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1 vv 







Picturesque Japan 

OR 

LAND OF THE MIKADO 

CONTAINING 

Graphic Accounts of the Early History of Japan ; Myriad Temples 

and Castles ; Beautiful Gardens ; Palatial Residences ; 

The Great City of Tokio, Its Shops and In= 

dustries ; Natural Scenery, etc, etc. 

SHIINTOISM AIND BUDDHISM 

INCLUDING 

Habits and Customs of the People ; Endless Amusements and Charm= 

ing Festivals ; Grand State Ceremonies ; Royal Etiquette ; 

Gorgeous Dress of Officials ; Social Customs 

Peculiar Characteristics, etc., etc. 

THE LAND of the RISIINQ SUIN 

BY 

Chester R. Stratton 

THE WELL-KNOWN AUTHOR AND TRAVELLER 



Embellished with a Great Number of Superb Illustrations of Scenes in 
Japan, and all Objects of Interest in that Wonderful Country 



NATIONAL PUBLISHING CO. 
NO, 241 America* Street, 

PHILADELPHIA, ?A. 







ENTERED A0C0RDIN3 TO ACT OF CONGRE66 IN THE YEAR »9t0, BY 

GEO. W. BERTRON 

(il THE OFFICE OF THE LIBRARIAN OF C.NGRES6, AT WASHINGTON, O. C, U. 8. A. 



© CIA 2 61398 



PREFACE. 



PHIS great work contains a complete account of Japan and the Japanese. 

I Japan is the rising star among the nations of the Orient. The rapid 
strides she has made in the last thirty years have surprised the civilized 
world. Almost at a single bound she has taken rank among the enlightened 
nations of the earth. 

The reader discovers the charm of her ancient history and the halo of 
renown that, surrounds her Valiant Heroes and Famous Rulers. He reads 
the account of her old Feudal System ; the grand achievements of her power- 
ful Tycoons and Daimios ; the might and majesty of her Emperors, and the 
heroic deeds of her brave armies. 

Japan is the " Land of the Rising Sun ; " she is set like a gem in the sea. 
Her harbors invite the commerce of the world. Her soil is rich ; her natural 
scenery delights the eye of the traveller ; she is wonderfully endowed by 
nature for the products of agriculture and the beauty of flower, field and forest. 
The vivid descriptions of her .coasts and harbors, her headlands and land- 
scapes, and likewise of her myriad Temples, her Palatial Residences, her old 
Castles and fragrant Gardens, present such a picture as only the far-famed 
Orient can furnish. This volume is especially rich and entertaining in its 
descriptions of Life among the Japanese. 

The reader obtains a delightful view of the ancient city of Kioto, the 
former Capital. He wanders through the crowded streets of the great city of 
Tokio ; he is taken into the homes of the people and is made acquainted with 
their peculiar characteristics ; their habits of daily life ; their modes of dress ; 
their social customs, including marriages and funerals ; their endless amuse- 
ments, and festivals. 

The curtain is lifted from the Court of the Mikado and he is made 
acquainted with the Grand State Ceremonies, the singular rules of Royal 
Etiquette, the gorgeous Dress of Officials, the brilliant Maids of Honor, and 
the royal respect shown to the Bmperor and Empress. The story of the 
Tycoons is fully told, with that of the Revolution of 1868, by which they 
were swept from power. Tremendous changes since this memorable period 
mark the History of Japan. 

This account of Japan is a most captivating story. It is tinged with the 
golden colors of the Orient. The subjects which it treats are of great interest 
to the entire world. 



CONTENTS. 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

Early History of Japan 17 

CHAPTER II. 
The Country and the People . . 31 



CHAPTER III. 
>c Domestic Life in Japan . 



CHAPTER IV. 
The Residence of the Shoguns. 

CHAPTER V. 

The Great City of Tokio .-. . 

CHAPTER VI. 
Shops and Industries of Tokio . 

CHAPTER VII. 
Popular Japanese Customs . . 



49 



61 



83 



9T 



110 



CHAPTER VIII. 
Shintoism and Buddhism in Japan 129 

CHAPTER IX. 
^Amusements of the Japanese . . 145 



CHAPTER X. 

PAGE 

Peculiarities of the Japanese . 162 

CHAPTER XI. 
The New-Year Festival in Japan 183 

CHAPTER XII. 
Japanese Women 201 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Striking Features of Japanese 

Life 218 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Street Scenes in Yokohama . . 224 

CHAPTER XV. 

Outbreak of the War Between 

Japan and China 231 

CHAPTER XVI. 
A Japanese Account of the War 243 

CHAPTER XVII. 

The New Japan 250 

v 




GREAT BRONZE STATUE OF BUDDHA, KAMAKURA, JAPAN 




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HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY-MUTSUHITO, EMPEROR OF JAPAN. 




A JAPANESE DESPATCH-RIDER 

THESE STRANGE CARVED FIGURES ARE A STRIKING FEATURE 

IN THE LANDSCAPE ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF VILLAGES. 

THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO FRIGHTEN AWAY EVIL SPIRITS. 




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TYPES CF JAPANESE SOLDIERS. 



japan and the ^aparpe§e. 



CHAPTER I. 
EARLY HISTORY OF JAPAN. 



T 



iHE history of Japan commences with 
the conqueror who came from the 
isles of the south. According to 
the annals of the Empire, he was a 
native prince and lord of a small territory at 
the southern extremity of the island of 
Kiousiou. Obscure tradition attributes to 
him a distant origin : the birthplace of his 
ancestors, if not his own, is said to have 
been the little archipelago of the Liou-Kiou 
Islands, which forms the link between For- 
mosa, southern China, and Japan. 

Six centuries before his time, an expedi- 
tion from Formosa and the Asiatic continent, 
headed by a certain Prince Ta'ipe or Ta'ifak, 
had reached the shores of Kiousiou, having 
proceeded from island to island ; but it was 
in the year 660 B. C. that the first historical 
personage, Sannoo, whose memory is cele- 
brated under the name of Zinmou, makes 
his appearance. Although he was the 
youngest of four sons, his father had named 
him his successor from his fifteenth year. 
He ascended the throne at the age of forty- 
five years, without any opposition on the part 
of his brothers. 

An old retainer, whose adventurous life 
had led him to the distant isles behind which 
the sun rises, loved to describe to him the 
Ja.— 2 



beauty of their shores, on which the gods 
themselves formerly sought refuge. "Now," 
said he, " they are inhabited by barbarous 
tribes, always at war with one another. If 
the prince desires to profit by their divisions, 
their men of arms, however skilful they may 
be in the management of the lance, the bow, 
and the sword, being dressed only in coarse 
fabrics, or the skins of savage beasts, cannot 
resist a diciplined army protected by helmets 
and iron cuirasses." 

A Fleet of War-Junks. 

Zinmou lent a willing ear to the sugges- 
tions of the old retainer ; collected all his 
disposable forces, placed them under the 
orders of his elder brothers and his sons, 
embarked them upon a flotilla of war-junks 
perfectly equipped, and, assuming command 
of the expedition, set sail, after taking leave 
of his home, which neither he nor his broth- 
ers were ever to see again. 

After he had doubled the southeast point 
of Kiousiou, he sailed along the eastern side 
of the island, keeping close to the shore 
after the fashion of the ancient Normans, 
making occasional descents, giving battle 
when he was resisted, and forming alliances 
when he found the nobles or chiefs of clans 

IT 



18 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



disposed to assist him in his enterprise, thus 
showing a friendly spirit. 

It was evident that all this coast had been 
the theatre of former invasions. The popu- 
lation was composed of the ruling class, and 
serfs attached to the land. In some of the 
chapels of the national Kamis, stone arms 
are exhited, which were used by the primi- 
tive populations at the epoch when, under 
certain unknown circumstances, they came 
in contact with a superior civilization. 

Armed With Bows and Arrows. 

When Zinmou made his appearance, 
walls and palisades protected the families of 
the soldiers and the masters of the country. 
The latter were armed with bows and long 
arrows ; a great sword with a carved hilt and 
a naked blade, worn in the folds of the 
girdle, completed their equipment. 

Their richest adornments consisted of a 
chain of magatamas, or cut gems, which they 
wore hanging on the side above the right hip. 
Among these stones were rock crystal, ser- 
pentine, jasper, agates, amethysts, and to- 
pazes. Some were in the form of a ball or 
an egg, others cylindrical ; one a crescent, 
another a broken ring. The women had 
necklaces of a similar kind. It is said that 
the use of the magatamas has still some con- 
nection with certain religious solemnities in 
the islands of Liou-Kiou, and at Yeso, in the 
north of Japan ; and it is concluded thence 
that it must have been common to all the 
populations of the long chains of islands 
extending from Formosa to Kamtschatka. 

If this custom has disappeared from the 
central region of the Japanese archipelago, 
the cause of the phenomenon must be sought 
in the superior culture which characterizes 
the inhabitants of these countries, and which 
has led them to renounce the display of the 
family wealth on their persons. 



After a difficult voyage of ten months, 
interrupted by occasional brilliant feats of 
arms and by profitable negotiations, Zinmou 
reached the northeastern extremity of the 
island of Kiousiou. He was at a loss how 
to get further, when he discovered a fisher- 
man who was floating upon the waves, 
squatting upon the shell of a huge turtle. 
He hailed him immediately, and employed 
him as a pilot. 

Thus Zinmou succeeded in crossing the 
strait which separates Kiousiou from the land 
of Niphon, and coasted along in the direction 
of the east, operating with prudent caution, 
and leaving behind him no important point 
without having secured its possession. 
Nevertheless, as the native tribes continu- 
ally opposed him at sea as well as on land, 
he disembarked and fortified himself upon 
the peninsula of Takasima, where he devoted 
three years to the construction and equip- 
ment of an auxiliary fleet. 

Remarkable Conquests. 

Then he set out again, and achieved the 
conquest of the coast and archipelago of the 
Inland Sea ; after which he disembarked the 
greater part of his army, and penetrating into 
Niphon, he establfshed his rule over the rich 
countries, intersected by fertile valleys and 
wooded mountains, which extend from Osaka 
to the borders of the Gulf of Yeddo. From 
that time all the cultivated countries and all 
the civilized peoples in ancient Japan were 
under the power of Zinmou. 

The conqueror inaugurated and established 
the preponderance of the south over the des- 
tinies of the Japanese people. Whether the 
race which ruled before him over the native 
inhabitants had been of Turanian origin or 
not, it also submitted in its turn to this last 
and decisive invasion, to which the Empire 
of the Mikados owes its ancient glory and its 




EMPEROR OF JAPAN. 



19 



■20 



actual existence. It was the same old story 
of the strong subduing the weaker. 

It does not follow, however, that Japanese 
civilization was a simple importation. Zin- 
mou appears to have been in certain respects, 
especially that of religion, a tributary of the 
people whom he had conquered. The diverse 
elements with which he had to deal — the 
native clans and the Tartar emigrants, with 
the invaders who had come from the islands 
of the south, the ancient nobles lately con- 
quered, and their new sovereign, who was 
won over to their favorite customs — were 
thus fused into one national body. 

The tribes which remained aloof from the 
pacific constitution of the Empire were the 
Ainos, who had been driven further and fur- 
ther towards the north, and the Yebis, 
dispersed during the strife of the invasion, 
and who lived in the forests on the products 
of hunting and rapine. 

Mixture of Races. 

But it would be vain to attempt an analysis 
of the various elements which have con- 
tributed to the formation of the national 
character of the Japanese. The civilization 
of the country appears to be the result of a 
combination of the indigenous and the foreign 
elements. There has been a mixture of races 
without an absorption of native qualities, 
among the islanders of the extreme east, and, 
as was the case among the islanders of Great 
Britain, the alliance has produced a new and 
original type. 

When the divine warrior Zinmou had 
accomplished his ambitious aims, seven years 
had elapsed since his departure from Kiou- 
siou, — seven years, accompanied with how 
much fatigue, suffering and trouble of every 
kind ! His three brothers had perished 
under his eyes : the first pierced with an 
arrow at the siege of a fortress ; the two 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 

others victims of their own devotion to him, 
for they had thrown themselves into the sea 
in order to appease a tempest which threat- 
ened the junk of the conqueror. 

The sun had always shown itself favorable 
to his enterprises. To its divine protection 
it was due that he had not been lost in the 
dangerous defiles of Yamato. A raven, sent 
to him by the divinity at a critical moment, 
had guided him into safety. Thus he had 
added to his ancestral arms the image of the 
glittering goddess, such as she appeared to 
him each day when she arose above the 
horizon, and had it painted upon his banner, 
his cuirass, and his war fan. 



Feast of Thanksgiving. 

In the fourth year of his reign, when he 
had attained possession of uncontested power, 
he instituted a solemn feast of thanksgiving 
in honor of Ten-sjoo-da'i-zin. The national 
Kamis had also their share in his homage. 
He ordained sacrifices in honor of the eight 
immortal spirits, protectors of countries and 
families, in order to celebrate the inaugura- 
tion of his royal residence, and to surround 
his throne with the prestige of that religion 
which was so dear to the peoples whom he 
had conquered. 

These things happened in the country of 
Yamato, which occupies the centre of the 
great peninsula in the southeast of Niphon, 
whose coasts border the Inland Sea and the 
ocean. There Zinmou constructed a vast 
fortress on a great hill. He called this castle 
his " Miako," or the chief palace of his States, 
and there he installed his Court, or Dairi. 
These two names have ever since been re- 
tained by the sovereigns of the Japanese 
Empire to distinguish it from their other 
residences. 

The sovereigns themselves bear the honor- 
giving title of " Mikados," or "august" and 



EARLY HISTORY OF JAPAN. 



21 



"venerable," without prejudice to the glorious 
surnames under which they figure in the 
annals of the nation after death. The na- 
tive historians frequently employ the word 
" Miako " instead of the proper name of the 
city in which the Emperor resides, and that 
of " Da'iri " in place of the title of Mikado. 

They say, for example, such and such a 
thing has been done "by order of the Da'iri," 
instead of "by order of the Mikado." This 
custom is, however, common to the language 
of all Courts. 

The Emperor's Successor. 

As Zinmou had been raised to the throne 
by the free choice of his father, it was enacted 
that for the future the reigning Mikado should 
designate one among his sons to succeed him, 
or, if he had no sons, one among the other 
princes of the blood, according to his own 
choice, and without regard to the order of 
primogeniture. If the throne became vacant 
during the minority of the elect prince, the 
widow of the Mikado was to assume the 
regency of the Empire, and to exercise sov- 
ereign rights during the interregnum. 

Zinmou terminated his glorious career in 
the sixty-seventh year of his age, 585 years 
before the birth of Christ. He has been 
placed among the number of the Kamis. 
His chapel, known in Japan by the name of 
Simoyasiro, is situated upon Mount Kamo, 
near Kioto, and he is still worshipped there 
as the founder and the first chief of the Em- 
pire. The hereditary right to the crown has 
subsisted in his family for more than two 
thousand five hundred years, and is still 
maintained. 

The ancient race of the Mikados was 
strong and long-lived. Zinmou lived one 
hundred and twenty years; the fifth Mikado 
lived one hundred and fourteen years ; the 
sixth, one hundred and thirty-seven years ; 



the seventh, one hundred and twenty-eight 
years ; the eighth, one hundred and six 
years ; the ninth, one hundred and eleven 
years; the eleventh and twelfth, each one 
hundred and forty years ; the sixteenth, one 
hundred and eleven years ; and the seven- 
teenth, who died in the 388th year of our 
era, attained the age of three hundred and 
eight years, or three hundred and thirty 
years according to the version of some his- 
torians. 

Seimou, the thirteenth Mikado, was ten 
feet high. The wives of the Mikados, who 
governed the Empire in the capacity of 
Regent, were equal in point of character to 
their venerable husbands. One of them, 
Zingou, A. D. 201, equipped a fleet, and, 
embarking at the head of a select army, 
crossed the Sea of Japan and conquered the 
Corea, from whence she returned just in 
time to give birth to a future Mikado. 

Internal Improvements. 

The progress of civilization kept pace 
with the aggrandizement of the Empire. 
From Corea came the camel, the ass, and 
the horse ; the latter animal is the only one 
which has been naturalized in Japan. 

The establishment of tanks and canals for 
the irrigation of the rice-fields dates back to 
thirty-six years B. C. The tea-shrub was in- 
troduced from China. Tatsima Nori brought 
the orange from "the country of eternity." 
The culture of the mulberry and the fabri- 
cation of silk date from the fifth century of 
our era. Two centuries later the Japanese 
learned to distinguish " the earth which re- 
places oil and wood for burning," and to 
extract silver from the mines of Tsousima. 

Several important inventions date from 
the third century : for example, the institu- 
tion of a horse post; making beer from rice, 
known under the name of saki; and the art 



22 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



of sewing clothes, which was taught to the 
Japanese housewives by needlewomen who 
came from the kingdom of Petsi, in Corea. 
The Mikado, enchanted with the first attempt, 
and wishing to go to the fountain-head, sent 
an embassy to the chief of the Celestial Em- 
pire to ask him for needlewomen. 

In the fourth century the Dairi built, in 
various parts of Japan, rice stores, intended 
to prevent the recurrence of the famines 
which had more than once ravaged the 
population. In 543, the Court of Petsi 
sent a precious instrument to the Mikado — 
it was "the wheel which indicates the south." 
The introduction of hydraulic clocks took 
place in 660, and ten years later that of 
wheels worked by water-power. At the end 
of the eighth century a system of writing, 
proper to Japan, was invented, but from the 
third century the use of Chinese signs had 
been introduced at Court. 

Barbarous Customs. 

The obscurity in which ancient national 
literature is enveloped does not permit us to 
estimate its influence on civilization. It is 
all the more interesting to trace the bene- 
ficent action which the fine arts exercised 
upon the people. Human victims were im- 
molated at the funerals of the Mikado or of 
his wife, the Kisaki, and these victims were 
usually servants of the Court. 

In the year 3 B. C, Nomino Soukoune, a 
native sculptor, being informed of the death 
of the Kisaki, had the generous courage to 
present himself before his sovereign with 
clay images, which he proposed to him 
should be thrown into the tomb of his royal 
wife in place of the servants destined to the 
sacrifice. The Mikado accepted the offer of 
the humble modeller, and testified his satis- 
faction by changing his family name to that 
of Fasi, or "artist." 



The laws remained as they still are, more 
barbarous and cruel than the customs. For 
example, the punishment of crucifixion was 
inflicted on noble women guilty of adultery. 

A whole series of measures admirably 
adapted for the rapid development of the 
genius of the nation, and for imbuing it with 
a true sense of its strength and individuality, 
is due to the political administration. In the 
year 86 B. C, the sovereign had census 
tables of the population made, and ship- 
building yards established. In the second 
century of our era he divided his States into 
eight administrative circles, and these circles 
into sixty-eight provinces. 

Names of Families and Titles. 

In the fifth century he sent an official into 
each province, charged with the collection 
and registration of the popular customs and 
traditions of every district. Thus the proper 
names of each family, and the titles and sur- 
names of the provincial dynasties, were fixed. 
An Imperial road was made between the 
principal cities, five in number, and the 
Mikado transported- his Court successively 
into each. The most important, in the 
seventh century, was the city of Osako, on 
the eastern coast of the Inland Sea. 

In order to confer political union, and 
also unity of language, letters and general 
civilization, upon the country, a capital was 
indispensable, and this great want was sup- 
plied in the eighth century by the founda- 
tion of Kioto, which became the favorite city 
of the Mikado, and was his permanent resi • 
dence until the twelfth century. 

The city of Hiogo, whose secure and 
spacious harbor has been for years the centre 
of the maritime commerce of the Japanese 
Empire, is built on the coast of the basin of 
Idsoumi, opposite to the northeastern point 
of the island of Awadsi. At Hiogo the 




EMPRESS OF JAPAN. 



23 



24 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



junks from Simonasaki discharge their 
cargoes from China, the Liou-Kiou Islands, 
from Nagasaki, and from the western coast 
of Niphon, and even of Corea and Yeso, for 
the supply of the interior and the east of 
Japan. From these, thousands of other 
junks transport the agricultural produce and 
objects of art and industry of the southern 
provinces of Niphon to the islands of the 
Inland Sea. 

The Venice of Japan. 

The great and ancient city of Osaka is 
only eight hours' journey from Hiogo. It 
is the Venice of Japan. The palaces of the 
nobility occupy the quays which stretch 
along the principal arm of the river. All 
the rest of the town is composed of houses 
and shops belonging to the trading classes. 
Only a few old temples, more or less dilapi- 
dated, are to be seen. One of them, at the 
far end of the eastern suburb, has been 
placed by the Government of the Tycoon 
at the disposal of the foreign Embassies. A 
citadel, a mile in circumference, overlooks 
the northeastern portion of the city, and 
commands the Imperial high road to Kioto. 

From the year 744 to the year 1185 of 
our era the city of Osaka was the residence 
of the Mikados. They were well pleased 
to dwell amid its energetic, laborious and en- 
terprising population, to whom the empire 
chiefly owed the development of its com- 
merce and prosperity. But this was no 
longer the heroic epoch, when the Mikado, 
like the Doge of the Venetian Republic, em- 
barked upon his war-junk, and fulfilled in 
person the functions of High Admiral. He 
was no longer to be seen inspecting his 
troops, borne upon a litter upon the 
shoulders of four brave heralds, or com- 
manding the manoeuvres from the summit of 
a hill, sitting upon a stool, and holding in 



his right hand his iron fan. Such had been 
the representation of him in former times. 

At Osaka, the Mikado, who had reached 
the height of riches, power, and security, 
built a palace in the midst of a spacious park, 
which shut him out from the tumult of the 
city. His courtiers persuaded him that it 
was requisite for the dignity of the descend- 
ant of the sun that he should be invisible to 
the great body of his subjects, and should 
leave to princes and favorites the cares of 
government and the command of the army 
and the fleet. 

The Sovereign Secluded, 

The life of the Da'iri was subject to cere- 
monial laws which regulated its smallest 
details and its least movements, and the 
sovereign dwelt within a circle inviolable by 
all except his courtiers. Imperial pomp 
henceforth rarely became visible to the 
people ; who, deceived in their dearest hopes, 
weary of the arbitrary rule of favorites, ven- 
tured at length to raise their voices, and their 
murmurs reached the ears of their sovereign. 
He did not convoke an assembly of notables, 
but he instituted certain bureaus, where the 
complaints of the people were registered. 

The courtiers, convinced that the dynasty 
of the descendants of the sun was in danger, 
carried away themselves and their Emperor 
to Kioto, a small town in the interior, on the 
north of Osaka. They succeeded in making 
this the permanent residence of the Mikados, 
and the capital, or miako, of the Empire. 

In abandoning the populous city, the great 
centre of commerce, of industry, and of in- 
tellectual activity, independent of the Da'iri, 
they obtained the double advantage of 
cutting off all communications between the 
people and the sovereign and of moulding 
the new capital to their tastes, and for the 
convenience of their passions, 



EARLY HISTORY OF JAPAN. 

Kioto is situated in a fertile plain, open to 
the south, and bounded to the northeast by 
a chain of green hills, behind which there is 
a great lake, called indifferently the lake of 
O'itz, or Oumi, the name of the two principal 
cities on its shores. It is said to offer some of 
the most beautiful views in Japan. The waters 
of a dozen rive*'s flow into it, and give rise 
to the Yodo-gawa, which runs to the south 
of Kioto, and into the Inland Sea below 
Osaka. 



25 



Canals in the Streets. 

Two affluents of the Yodo-gawa rise on 
the north of the capital, and flow beneath its 
walls, one to the east and the other to the 
west. Thus Kioto is completely surrounded 
by a network of running water, which is 
utilized in irrigating the rice-fields, in the for- 
' mation of canals in the streets of the city, 
. and also in the tanks in the Imperial parks. 
In the neighborhood of Kioto, rice, sar- 
rasin, wheat, tea, the mulberry-tree, the 
cotton-plant, and an immense variety of fruit- 
trees and vegetables are cultivated. Groves 
of bamboos and laurels, chestnuts, pines, and 
cypress crown the hills. Springs are abund- 
ant. Thousands of birds — the falcon, the 
pheasant, the peewit, ducks, geese, and 
hawks of all kinds — abound in the country. 
Kioto is famed for the salubrity of its climate. 
! It is one of those portions of the Empire 
j least exposed to hurricanes and earthquakes. 
The successors of Zinmou could not have 
found a more propitious retreat in which to 
enjoy the fruits of the labors of their ances- 
tors ; to raise themselves to the rank of 
divinities upon the pedestal of the ancient 
traditions of their race, and to lose sight of 
the realities of human life. All these things 
they did so completely as to allow one of the 
greatest sceptres in the world to escape from 
'their enervated hands. 



The descendant of the Kamis of Japan 
naturally became the chief of the national 
religion, which had no clergy. The Mikados 
created a hierarchy of functionaries, endowed 
with the sacerdotal character, and charged to 
preside over all the details of public worship. 
All the high dignitaries were chosen from the 
immediate and collateral members of the 
Imperial family. 

The same order of proceeding was ob- 
served generally in all that concerned the 
service of the palace and the important 
functionaries of the Da'iri. The chiefs of the 
civil and military administrations were 
gradually more and more alienated f r om the 
Court properly so called, and the latter took 
an exclusively clerical stamp. 

Rivalry in Building Temples. 

So the capital of the Empire ended by 
presenting a strange spectacle. Nothing was 
to be seen there which had reference to the 
army, the navy, or the government of the 
country. All these were abandoned to the 
care of the functionaries employed in the 
various services, and scattered about in the 
provinces. 

On the other hand, all the sects which 
recognized the supremacy of the Mikado 
assembled their own dignitaries within his 
city of residence, and all vied with each other 
in building temples for their respective 
religions. Thus, when Buddhism, imported 
by monks from China, had made sure of the 
protection of the Mikado by paying him 
homage under the title of spiritual chief of 
the Empire, it speedily surpassed all that 
had been done in the capital to the honor 
and glory of the Kami worship. 

The Japanese Buddhists endowed Kioto 
with the largest bell in the world, and with a 
temple no less unique of its kind. It is called 
the Temple of the Thirty-three Thousand 



26 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



Three Hundred and Thirty-three, which is 
exactly the number of the idols which it 



ones, placed upon their heads and knees and 
upon the palms of their hands. 







VIEW OF KIOTO, JAPAN. 



contains. In order to make such a prodigy 
intelligible, it must be explained that the 



The temples or chapels of Kioto whicl 
belong to the ancient national religion still 



great statues support a multitude of small preserve to a certain extent the simplicity 



EARLY HISTORY OF JAPAN. 



zi 



which distinguishes them in the provinces. 
Some are consecrated to the seven celestial 
dynasties of the native mythology, others to 
the spirits of the earth, and others to the 
divinity of the Sun, Ten-sjoo-dai-zin, or to 
her descendants, the first Mikados. 

The Kami worship towards the end of the 
seventeenth century had two thousand one 
hundred and twenty-seven mias in Kioto and 
its suburbs ; but the Buddhist religion, in its 
different sects or ramifications, had no less 
than three thousand eight hundred and 
ninety-three temples, pagodas or chapels. 
There are no other monuments worthy of 
notice in this singular capital. 

Palaces of the Mikados. 

The palaces of the Dairi are numbered 
among the sacred edifices, both by reason 
of the style of their architecture and their 
purpose. They are enclosed within a circuit 
of walls occupying the northeastern portion 
of the city. Long lines of trees, of great 
height, which show above the distant roofs, 
give a vague idea of the' extent and tran- 
quillity of the parks, in whose recesses the 
Imperial dwellings hide themselves from 
profane eyes and the noise of the city. 

As it frequently happens that the Mikado 
abdicates in favor of the hereditary prince, 
in order to end his days in absolute seclu- 
sion, a special palace is reserved for him, 
under such circumstances, in a solitary en- 
closure on the southeastern side of the Dairi. 

In the centre of the city there is a strong 
fort, whose ramparts are surmounted at inter- 
vals by square towers two or three stories 
high, intended to serve as a refuge for the 
Mikado in troublous times. The headquar- 
ters of the garrison of the Tycoon was 
established there in later days. 

The high dignitaries and functionaries, 
and the persons employed in the various 



residences of the Emperor and of his 
numerous family, may be counted by thou- 
sands. The number can never be exactly- 
known, because the Court has the privilege 
of escaping the annual census. 

At all times the Japanese Government has 
occupied itself carefully with national statis- 
tics. In the holy city of the Empire, every 
individual is officially classed in the sect to 
which he declares himself to belong. In 
1693 Kaempfer reports that the permanent 
population of Kioto, exclusive of the Court, 
comprised 52,169 ecclesiastics, and 477,557 
lay persons; both one and the other were 
divided into twenty recognized sects, the 
most numerous of which included 159,113 
adherents, and the least numerous, which 
was a sort of Buddhist confraternity, 289 
members only. 

A Continuous Carnival. 

It must not be imagined that this enorm- 
ous development of sacerdotal life in the 
capital of Japan renders the city gloomy, 
or makes the public morals austere. Ex- 
actly the contrary is the case; the stories 
and pictures which exist in Kioto, and record 
what it was in the days of its prosperity, 
produce the impression of a never-ending 
carnival. 

Let us suppose that we are reaching the 
holy city at sundown. Our ears will be 
assailed by a concert of instruments. On 
all the hills, which are covered with sacred 
groves, temples and convents, the bonzes 
and the monks are celebrating the evening 
office to the sound of drums and tambou- 
rines, copper gongs and brass bells. The 
faubourgs are illuminated with bright col- 
ored paper lanterns of all dimensions: the 
largest of cylindrical form, are suspended 
from the columns of the temples; the 
smaller, like globes, hang from the doors 



28 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



of the inns and the galleries of the houses. 
The sacred edifices and profane establish- 
ments, which participate in this illumination, 
are so considerable in number, and so close 
together, that the whole quarter seems to be 
the scene of a Venetian/^. In the heart 
of the city a compact crowd of both sexes 
throngs the streets, which extend from the 




GREAT BELL OF KIOTO. 

north to the south, in the vicinity of the 
Dairi. The priests are there in great num- 
bers. Those of the Kami worship wear a 
little hat of black lacquered cardboard, sur- 
mounted with a sort of crest of the same 
color, and a small white cross. 

This curious head-dress has an appendage 
of very stiff ribbon which is tied behind the 
head and hangs down the back of the neck. 



It is the ancient national head-dress, which 
does not belong exclusively to the priests, 
but may be worn, with certain modifications 
prescribed by the sumptuary laws, by the 
nineteen officially titled classes of the popu- 
lation of Kioto. A wide simar, big trousers 
and great sword, which is probably only an 
ornamental weapon, completes the costume 
of the priests of the Kami temples. 

All the members of the Buddhist clergy, 
regular as well as secular, have the head 
shaven and completely bare, with the ex- 
ception of certain orders who wear wide- 
brimmed hats. The habit is generally grey, 
but there are some black, brown, yellow and 
red, occasionally diversified by a scarf and 
breastplate or a surplice. 

A Curious Rock. 

Kioto boasts of certain hermits, saints 
who have made choice of the capital to 
retire from the world. The grateful citizens 
transform the cells of these monks into little 
storehouses of abundance. The most mys- 
terious of them is cut out of the front of a 
rock, and inhabited no one knows by whom 
or how ; but baskets of provisions are lifted 
up by an ingenious pulley over a great tank, 
which separates the rock from the public 
road. 

The annual fetes instituted in honor of the 
principal Kamis of Japan have no other 
sacred rites than the ceremonies of purifica- 
tion, and were introduced about the end of 
the eighth century. On the day before the 
great solemnity the priests go in procession 
with lights to the temple, where the arms 
and other objects which belongs to the 
divine hero are kept in a precious reliquary 
called "Mikosi." 

According to clerical fiction, the Mikosi 
represents the terrestrial dwelling of the 
Kami — a kind of throne still preserved to 



10 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



him in his earthly country — and each year 
it undergoes a radical purification. The 
reliquary is emptied and brought to the 
river: while a certain number of priests 
carefully wash it, others light great fires in 
order to keep away all evil genii ; and the 
Kagoura, or sacred choir, play softly in 
order to appease the spirit of the Kami, who 
is momentarily deprived of his earthly 
dwelling; nevertheless, they make no delay 
in restoring it to him, which is done by 
solemnly reinstating the relics in the reli- 
quary. 

As, however, the temple itself equally re- 
quires purification, the Mikosi does not re- 
enter it until this operation has been per- 
formed ; and during the entire fete, which is 
prolonged during several days, it is sheltered 
in a receptacle specially constructed for the 
purpose, and duly protected against evil 
spirits. 

Showers of Hot Water. 

Should those dread things endeavor to 
pass through the ropes of rice-straw which 
bound the sacred enclosure, they would ex- 
pose themselves to showers of boiling holy 
water, with which from time to time the 
dwelling of the Kami is sprinkled ; and 
woe to the evil spirits who should flutter in 
the air within reach of the Kami's guard of 
honor, for the priests who compose it are 
skilful horsemen and accomplished archers. 
The people applaud their evolutions, and fol- 
low with admiring eyes the arrows that they 
shoot into the clouds, and which fall within 
the enclosure of the holy place. 

Such are the ceremonies which lend a de- 
votional character to the festival. The in- 
fluence which Kami worship has had upon 
the development of the dramatic taste of the 
nation has not been produced, I need hardly 
say, by these puerile juggleries. The annual 



festivals have another and worthier side, and 
one educational in its character. 

The historical cortege, a great procession 
of masked and costumed priests, represents 
various scenes taken from the lives of their 
heroes. These theatrical representations in 
the open air were accompanied by music, 
songs and pantomimic dances. Thus the 
fine arts and poetry are made interpreters of 
national traditions, and the people flock to 
receive the patriotic instruction with avidity. 

Annual Festivals. 

Sometimes an exhibition of trophies of 
arms, or groups of figures in clay, reproduc- 
ing the features and wearing the traditional 
costume of the principal Kamis, was added 
to the entertainment. They were placed on 
cars or on platforms of pyramidal form, rep- 
resenting the building, the bridge, the junk, 
or sacred place illustrated by the heroes 
whose memory was celebrated. Originally 
these annual festivals, which were called 
Matsouris, were limited to a small number 
of the most ancient cities in the Empire. 
Eight provinces only had the honor of pos- 
sessing Kamis. 

But, from the tenth century, every province, 
every district, every place of any importance 
wished to have its hero or its celestial patron. 
Finally, the number of Kamis reached three 
thousand one hundred and thirty-two, among 
whom a great difference was made in favor 
of the most ancient. Four hundred and 
ninety-two were distinguished under the title 
of "great Kamis," and the others received 
the name of "inferior Kamis." 

Thenceforth, Matsouris were held in all 
important places in Japan, and from one end 
to the other of the Empire a taste for heroic 
recitals and artistic enjoyments, allied to the 
love of country and manly qualities, was dif- 
fused. 



CHAPTER II. 
THE COUNTRY AND THE PEOPLE. 



A COMPLETE and graphic description 
of Japan and the Japanese is fur- 
nished by M. Aime Humbert, Min- 
ister Plenipotentiary to Japan from 
the Swiss Republic. M. Humbert had pecu- 
liar advantages for studying the land of the 
Mikado and its people, and he records his 
facts and observations in a manner that at 
once interests and captivates the reader. 
Speaking of the country and its surround- 
ings, he says : 

The Inland Sea of Japan is bounded by 
the southern coasts of Niphon, and the 
northern coasts of Kiousiou, and Sikoff. It 
is, however, more like a canal than a real 
mediterranean sea, being a communication 
established, at the height of the thirty-fourth 
degree of north latitude, between the Chinese 
Sea, or, more strictly, of the strait of Corea, 
on the western coast of Japan, and the great 
ocean which washes the southern and eastern 
shores of the same archipelago. The whole 
of the Japanese Mediterranean is sometimes 
known as the Sea of Souwo. 

Each of the provinces by which it is sur- 
rounded contains one or several "lordships," 
belonging to the feudal princes, who enjoy 
considerable independence, and generally 
derive large revenues from their estates. 

The Japanese Mediterranean, like the 
European sea so called, is divided into sev- 
eral basins. They are five in number, and 
are named from the most important of the 
provinces which overlook them, so that the 
Inland Sea bears five different names through- 
out its longitudinal course from west to east. 



In the midst of the natural wealth which 
surrounds them, the large, industrious, and 
intelligent population of the country parts of 
Japan have for their entire possessions only 
a humble shed, a few working implements, 
some pieces of cotton cloth, a few mats, 
a cloak of straw, a little store of tea, oil, rice, 
and salt ; for furniture, nothing but two or 
three cooking utensils ; in a word, only the 
strict necessaries of existence. All the 
remaining product of their labor belongs to 
the owners of the soil, the feudal lords. 

Temples Everywhere. 

The absence of a middle class gives a 
miserable aspect to the Japanese villages. 
Liberal civilization would have covered the 
borders of the Inland Sea with pretty ham- 
lets and elegant villas. The uniformity of 
the rustic dwellings is broken by temples, 
but they are to be distinguished at a distance 
only by the vast dimensions of their roofs, 
and by the imposing effect of the ancient 
trees which are almost always to be found in 
their vicinity. Buddhist pagodas, which are 
lofty towers with pointed roofs, adorned with 
galleries on each floor, are much less com- 
mon in Japan than in China. 

On entering the basin of Hiago, we came 
in sight of a town of some importance, on the 
coast of Sikoff; it is called Imabari. A vast 
sandy beach, which is rarely to be found in 
Japan, stretched back to a kind of suburb, in 
which we could discern a busy concourse of 
people, apparently carrying on market busi- 
ness. Above the strand were fertile plains, 

31 



32 

whose undulating lines were lost in the mist 
at the foot of a chain of mountains bathed in 
sunshine. The principal peaks of this chain 
are from 3,000 to 4,800 feet in height. 

Fortifications, or rather mounds of earth, 
behind which shone several banners, pro- 
tected the batteries posted in front of the 
port. Some soldiers, standing in a group 
on the shore, followed our corvette with 
their eyes. There was nothing remarkable 
in the aspect of the town, except the sacred 
palaces, adorned by gigantic trees. 



A Famous Prince. 

Some time afterwards we passed, within 
rifle-range, a large Japanese steamer, which 
our pilot, whom we consulted, and who 
judged from the colors of the flag, informed 
us was the property of the Prince of Tosa. 
His estates are situated in the southern por- 
tion of the island of Sikoff, and they bring 
him in a very large annual revenue. Most 
probably he was returning from a conference 
of the feudal party held in the city of Kioto, 
at the court of the Hereditary Emperor of 
Japan, and had embarked at Hiogo, in order 
to regain his own province by the Boungo 
canal. What were his sentiments on be- 
holding a strange corvette cleaving the waters 
of the Inland Sea? Does he flatter himself 
:hat he can repel the civilization of the West 
iy the arms which it places at his disposal ? 
Does he know whither steam will lead him ? 
A little before sunset we saw, on the coast 
}f Sikoff, a feudal castle, remarkable for its 
picturesque site upon the summit and the 
ides of a wooded hill, at whose feet a rustic 
lamlet seemed to shelter itself under the pro- 
ection of the ancient lordly towers. It is 
be Castle of Marougama, the residence of 
Vince Kiogoko Sanoke, whose revenues are 
alued at $200,000. 
The castles of the Daimios are generally at 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 

a distance from the town and villages. They 
are composed, in most instances, of a vast 
quadrangular enclosure, within thick and 
lofty walls, surrounded by a moat, and 
flanked at the corners, or surmounted at 
intervals throughout their extent by small 
square towers with slightly sloping roofs. 
In the interior are the park, the gardens, 
and the actual residence of the Daimio, com- 
prising a main dwelling and numerous de- 
pendencies. Sometimes a solitary tower, of 
a shape similar to the other buildings, rises 
in the middle of the feudal domain, and rears 
itself three or four stories higher than the 
external wall. 



Imposing Edifices. 

As in the case of the Chinese pagodas, 
each story is surrounded by a roof, which, 
however, but seldom supports a gallery. 
All the masonry is rough, and joined by 
cement; the woodwork is painted red and 
black, and picked out with copper orna- 
ments, which are sometimes polished, but 
sometimes laden with verdigris. The tiles 
of the roof are slate color. In general, 
richness of detail is less aimed at than the 
general effect resulting from the grandeur 
and harmony of the proportions of the 
buildings. In this respect, some of the 
seignorial residences of Japan deserve to 
figure among the remarkable architectural 
monuments of the peoples of Eastern Asia. 

We anchored in a bay of the island of 
Souyousima, at the southern point of the 
province of Bitsiou, and at the entrance of 
the basin of Arima. We were surrounded 
by mountains, at whose feet twinkled many 
lights shining in from houses. The stillness 
was unbroken, save by the distant barking of 
dogs. Next morning, very early, we were 
ploughing the peaceful waters of the Ari- 
manado. This basin is completely closed 



THE COUNTRY AND THE PEOPLE. 



33 



on the east by a single island, which divides 
it from the Idsouminada by a length of 
thirty miles. It is in the form of a triangle, 
whose apex, turned towards the north, faces 
the province of Arima, on the island of 
Niphon. 

This is the beautiful island of Awadsi, 
which was the dwelling-place of the gods, 
and the cradle of the national mythology of 
the Japanese. The low lands at its southern 
extremity are covered with a luxuriant vege- 
tation, and the soil rises gently into culti- 
vated or wooded hills until they touch the 
boundaries of a chain of mountains from 300 
to 700 yards in height. 

Awadsi belongs to the Prince of Awa, 
whose annual revenue amounts to $800,000. 
It is separated from the island of Sikoff on 
the west, by the passage of Naruto, and the 
island of Niphon on the east, by the Strait 
of Linschoten. 

Dangerous Channel. 

The greater number of the steamers which 
cross the Japanese Mediterranean from west 
to east, pass from the basin of Arima into 
that of Idsoumi, where they generally touch 
at the important commercial town of Hiogo ; 
and from thence they enter the great ocean 
by the Strait of Linschoten. That passage 
of Naruto which leads directly from the 
basin of Arima into the great ocean is 
shorter than the former ; it is, however, 
much less frequented, because it is consid- 
ered a dangerous channel for high-decked 
vessels. 

We saw the coasts drawing nearer and 
nearer to us, as we descended, towards the 
south-west corner of this triangular piece of 
land. At the same time a promontory of 
the island of Sikoff rose above the horizon 
on our right, and seemed to stretch continu- 
ously onward in the direction of Awadsi. 
Ja.— 3 



Very soon we found ourselves in a passage 
from whence we could distinctly see the 
beautiful vegetation of the coast of Sikoff 
and the coast of Awadsi. 

At length we saw the gates of the Strait: 
on the left, rocks surmounted by pines, 
forming the front of the island of Awadsi ; 
on the right, a solitary rock, or islet, also 
bearing a few pines, forming the front of the 
island of Sikoff. Between them the sea, 
like a bar of breakers, though the weather 
was calm : afar, the undulating ocean, with- 
out a speck of foam ; the tossing of the 
waves in the passage being solely the result 
of the violence of the current. 

Myriads of Birds. 

All around us, on the waves and at the 
foot of the rocks, were thousands of sea- 
birds, screaming, fluttering and diving for 
the prey which the sea, stirred to its depths 
by the current, was perpetually tossing up 
to them. Several fishing-boats were out, 
not on the canal — that would have been 
impossible — but behind the rocks, in the 
creeks of the little solitary islet and of Sikoff. 

Below Awadsi, the united waters of the 
two straits of Naruto and Linschoten form 
the canal of Kino, which washes the shores 
of the province of Awa, on Sikoff, and of the 
province of Kisou, on Niphon. We sailed 
for some time yet in sight of the latter; then 
the land disappeared from our eyes, and we 
soon perceived, by the wide-rolling motion 
of the waves, that we were on the outer sea, 
in the immense domain of the great ocean. 

I occupied myself, during the whole eve- 
ning, in recalling the recollections of my 
journey; and I could find nothing out of 
Switzerland to compare with the effect of 
the beautiful Japanese scenery. Since then, 
several Japanese, travelling in Switzerland, 
have told me that no other country awakened 



34 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



so vividly the remembrance of their own. 
Still more frequently I transported myself 
in fancy to one or other of the archipelagoes 
of the Souwonada, earnestly desiring the 
advent of that hour when the breath of 
liberty will give them, in the Far East, the 
importance which formerly belonged, in 
Europe, to the Archipelago of the Mediter- 
ranean. 

They cannot be blended into a general 
impression. Nothing is less uniform than 
the scenery of the shores of the Inland Sea. 
It is a series of pictures which vary infinitely,, 
according to the greater or less proximity of 
the coasts, or to the aspect of the islands on 
the horizon. There are grand marine scenes, 
where the lines of the sea blend with sandy 
beaches sleeping under the golden rays of 
the sun; while in the distance, the misty 
mountains form a dim background. 

Japanese Scenery. 

There are little landscapes, very clear, 
trim and modest: a village at the back of 
a peaceful bay, surrounded by green fields, 
over which towers a forest of pines; just as 
one may see by a lake in the Jura on a fine 
morning in June. 

Sometimes, when the basins contracted, 
and the islands in front seemed to shut us 
in, I remembered the Rhine above Boppart. 
The Japanese scenery is, however, more 
calm and bright than the romantic land- 
scapes to which I allude. The abrupt 
slopes, the great masses of shade, the shift- 
ing lines, are replaced by horizontal levels; 
by a beach, a port and terraces ; in the dis- 
tance are rounded islands, sloping hills, 
conical mountains. These pictures have 
their charms: the imagination, no less than 
the eye, rests in the contemplation of them; 
but it would seek in vain that melancholy 
attraction which, according to the notions of 



European taste, seems inseparable from the 
enjoyment. 

Laying aside the question of the pictu- 
resque, which is not the essential element 
of our relations with the Far East, I hope 
that, sooner or later, a chain of Western 
colonies will be formed at Japan, peacefully 
developing the natural and commercial re- 
sources of that admirable country, along a 
line marked by Yokohama, Hiogo, Simono- 
saki and Nagasaki. It might have a regular 
service of steamers. 

Fine Summer Resorts. 

The trading steamers of America, as well 
as those of Chirta, might maintain the rela- 
tions of the two worlds with the King of the 
Archipelagoes of the Great Ocean. Euro- 
peans,, weary of the tropical climate or the 
burthen of business in China, might seek 
pure and strengthening air, and pass some 
weeks of repose on the shores of the Japa- 
nese Mediterranean. How many families 
settled in China, how many wives and chil- 
dren of Europeans, would be delighted to 
profit, during the trying summer months, by 
this refuge, as beautiful and salubrious as 
Italy, and yet near their actual home! 

But while imagination, forestalling the 
march of time and the triumphs of civiliza- 
tion, evokes the charms of a European 
society from the bosom of the isles of the 
Souwonada, I must acknowledge that I 
privately congratulated myself on having 
seen the Japanese Mediterranean in its 
primitive condition, while one may still 
"discover" something, and has to ask the 
pilots the names of the islands, the moun- 
tains and the villages, and to cast anchor for 
the night in some creek called "fair port" 
by the natives. 

Having doubled the southern point of the 
great island of Niphon, that is, the promon- 



36 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



tory of Idsoumo, situated at the southern 
extremity of the principality of Kisou, we 
sailed, during a whole day with the current 
which the Japanese call Kouro-Siwo, which 
runs from southwest to northeast, at the rate 
of from thirty-five to forty miles a day. 

A Pleasant Sail. 

The weather was fine, and the sea a shin- 
ing emerald-green. I passed many hours 
on the poop, in stillness and vague contem- 
plation. For the first time I enjoyed the 
pleasure of sailing. The silence which 
reigned on board added to the majestic effect 
of the ship, laden up to the summit of her 
masts with her triple wings of white. It was 
as though the fires had been extinguished, 
and the noise of the engines hushed, that 
we might present ourselves more respectfully 
at the gates of the residence of the Tycoons. 
But when night fell, the fires were lighted 
again, in case of accident; for the land-winds 
frequently cause much trouble to the ships 
in the Gulf of Yeddo. At daybreak, we 
came within sight of six small mountainous 
islands, which looked like signals set up at 
the entrance of this vast arm of the sea. 

The sun rose, and presented, amid the salt 
mists of the horizon, that image of a scarlet 
globe which forms the national arms of Japan. 
His earliest rays lighted up Cape Idsou, on 
the mainland of Niphon, whilst in the east 
we beheld the smoke of the two craters of 
the island of Ohosima. At the head of a 
bay in the promontory of Idsou is situated 
the town of Simoda, the first, but the least 
important of the commercial places to which 
we come when sailing up the Gulf of Yeddo. 
The Americans obtained an authorization to 
found an establishment there in 1854. Some 
time afterwards the harbor of Simoda was 
destroyed by an earthquake, and no mention 
was made of that place in the treaties of 1858. 



A number of fishing-boats are to be seen 
on the coast, and several three-masted vessels 
are going to the mainland of Niphon and the 
surrounding islands. The scene is full of 
life, and sparkling with brilliant and harmo- 
nious color ; the wide sky is a splendid 
azure ; the pale green sea has no longer the 
sombre hues of the great deeps, but shines 
with the limpid brightness which character- 
izes it upon the rocky coasts of Japan. The 
isles are decked in the brilliant foliage of the 
spring; the harsh brown of the rocks is 
streaked with shades of ochre ; and the white 
sails of the native barques, the snow-crests 
of Myakesima, and the smoke from the 
craters of Ohosima, complete the beautiful 
marine scene. 

The "Matchless Mountain." 

Having reached the " Bay of the Missis- 
sippi," we made out, for the first time, the 
summit of Fousi-yama, the " Matchless 
Mountain," an extinct volcano 12,450 feet 
above the level of the sea. It is fifty nautical 
miles from the coast, on the west of the bay, 
and except for the chain of the Akoni hills 
at its base, completely isolated. 

The effect of this immense solitary pyramid, 
covered with eternal snow, surpasses descrip- 
tion. It lends inexpressible solemnity to the 
scenery of the Bay of Yeddo, already more 
sombre than that of the gulf, by reason of the 
closer proximity of the shores, the somewhat 
sandy hue of the sea-water, and the immense 
quantity of cedars, pines, and other dark- 
foliaged trees which crown the crests of all 
the hills along the coast. 

At length we double Point Treaty, a 
picturesque promontory where the conven- 
tion between Commodore Perry and the 
Commissioners of the Tycoon was signed; 
and all of a sudden, behind this promontory, 
we see the auavs and the citv of Yokohama 



THE COUNTRY AND THE PEOPLE. 



37 



stretching along a marshy beach, bounded 
on the south and west by a ring of wooded 
hills. A score of ships of war, and merchant 
vessels, English, Dutch, French, and Ameri- 
can, are lying out in the roads, almost oppo- 
site the " foreign quarter," which may easily 
be recognized by its white houses and con- 
sular flags. Native junks are lying at anchor 
at some distance from the jetties of the port 
and the store houses of the Custom House. 
We pass by these slowly, and steam at half 
speed in front of the Japanese city, in which 
all the houses, except a certain number of 
shops, are built of wood, and seem to have 
only one story above the ground floor. 

Named From a Sea-Goddess. 

When we had come opposite to the Benten 
quarter, situated at the extremity of the beach 
of Yokohama, and at the mouth of a wide 
river, our corvette anchored. 

That portion of the Japanese city of Yoko- 
hama which is called Benten derives its name 
from a sea-goddess, who is worshipped in an 
island situated to the northwest of our resi- 
dence. Before the arrival of the Europeans, 
this sacred place was surrounded only by a 
small town, in which dwelt fishermen and 
agriculturists, separated by a swamp from 
the not less modest little town of Yokohama. 
Now, quays, streets, modern buildings, have 
invaded the entire space which extends from 
the promontory of the " Treaty " to the 
river, from which we are divided only by 
a range of Japanese barracks and a guard- 
house. 

Among the streets which extend to the 
sea-beach from Benten, there is one shaded 
by a plantation of firs ; and on passing 
through the municipal barrier which the 
police keep open during the day and shut at 
night, the stranger finds himself in front 
of a long avenue of fir trees, headed by a 



sacred gate called a Tori. It is composed of 
two pillars slightly inclined towards each 
other ; so that they would meet at last at an 
acute angle, if at a certain elevation their 
pyramidal development were not checked ; 
and joined by two horizontal transverse 
beams, of which the uppermost is the thicker, 
and is curved upwards at both ends. 

The tori invariably announces the vicinity 
of a temple, a chapel, or a sacred place of 
some sort. A grotto, a waterfall, a gigantic 
tree, a fantastic rock, all things which we 
prosaically call natural curiosities, a Japanese 
regards with pious veneration or with super- 
stitious fear, according to whether he be more 
or less governed by the Buddhist demon- 
ology ; and the bonzes of the country, priestly 
attendants of the temples, never fail to give 
tangible form to this popular tendency, by 
erecting a tori close to each remarkable 
place. 

Avenue of Trees. 

The pine trees in the Benten avenue are 
lofty, slender and for the most part bent by 
the continuous action of the sea-breezes. 
At regular distances long poles are nailed 
upon them crosswise, on which, on festival 
days, the bonzes hang inscriptions, wreaths 
and swinging banners. 

The avenue ends in a second tori, which, 
with due regard to perspective, is not so 
lofty as the first. On approaching it, one is 
surprised to find that the avenue makes a 
sudden bend and prolongs itself on the right. 
Here all is mystery; a waste ground, cov- 
ered with rank grasses, bushes and slender 
pines with aerial foliage; on the left, the 
calm transparent water of a little gulf formed 
by an arm of the river; in front is a wooden 
bridge, built in a style of severe elegance, 
wide and excessively curved; behind this 
bridge is a third tori, thrown out against 



38 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



the thick foliage of a grove of fine trees. 
The whole forms a strange picture, with 
something in it that excites a secret appre- 
hension. 

This bridge, whose pillars are decorated 
with ornaments in copper, finally admits us 
to the sacred place. The third tori, bearing 
on its summit an inscription in gold letters on 



kneel who come to worship before the altar 
of the goddess. 

Should the temple be empty, one of the 
bonzes in attendance may be summoned by 
shaking a long strip of woolen stuff that 
hangs beside the entrance, with a bunch of 
pebbles attached to it. The bonze comes 
out of his retreat immediately, and proceeds, 




VIEW OF YOKOHAMA. 



a black ground, is entirely built of fine 
granite of remarkable whiteness ; and the 
tombs, which are tastefully disposed on the 
left side of the avenue, are constructed of 
the same material. The temple, almost en- 
tirely hidden by the branches of the cedars 
and pines which surround it, faces us ; but 
the mysterious gloom hardly permits us to 
discern the flight of steps on which the people 



according to the requirements of the visitor, 
to give him advice, to distribute tapers or 
amulets, to undertake to recite prayers, in 
fact to perform any of the ceremonies of 
worship ; — of course for the consideration of 
a fee. 

As a Japanese, before he presents himself 
at the sanctuary, must wash and dry his 
hands and face, in a small chapel, at some 



THE COUNTRY AND THE PEOPLE. 



39 



distance from the temple, on the right, is a 
basin containing the holy water intended for 
ablutions, and napkins of silk crape sus- 
pended on a roller, like the hand-towels in a 
sacristy. One of two chapels close by con- 
tains the big drum which serves the purpose 
of a bell for the temple, the other the volun- 
tary offerings of the faithful. The bonzes 
who serve the temple of Benton do not 
appear to live in opulence. Their attire is 
generally dirty and neglected ; and the ex- 
pression of their faces is stupid, sullen, and 
malevolent towards strangers, who are glad 
to keep at a respectful distance from these 
holy persons. 

A Singular Orchestra. 

I had only one opportunity of seeing them 
officiate ; it was on the occasion of a proces- 
sion on their local festival day. On ordinary 
days, it appears, that they merely give 
audiences ; and I have rarely seen men resort 
to their ministrations. Their habitual clients 
are peasant women, fishermen, and casual 
pilgrims. But I have frequently heard, at 
sunset, the beating of the tambourines, 
which, except at great solemnities, form the 
whole orchestra of the temple of Benten. 

The bonzes perform interminable music 
on this monstrous instrument, always in the 
same rhythm ; four equal loud notes, followed 
by four equal deep notes, and so on, for 
hours together, probably the length of time 
required for driving away the evil influences. 
Nothing can exceed the melancholy impres- 
sion produced by this deep-sounding noise, 
when, in the silence of the night, it blends 
with the sighing of the great cedar-trees 
and the booming of the sea. It oppresses 
one like a nightmare. But indeed it may 
be said that the religion which finds expres- 
sion in such customs weighs on the mind of 
the people like a dream, full of uneasiness 



and vague terror and destitute of every ele- 
ment of good cheer and hope. 

Far from being natural religion, paganism 
is the enemy of human nature, the religion 
of denaturalized man ; and thence it is that, 
seen in action, it fills one with an indescrib- 




JAPANESE BONZE. 

able pain, an instinctive repulsion which 
seems to me to come from that especial 
characteristic, rather than to be the effect of 
our Christian education. 

The obligatory accompaniments of the 
Japanese temples are tea-houses or restau- 
rants, at which tea is principally supplied, 



40 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



but where saki, a fermented and highly in- 
toxicating drink, may be had. The eatables 
are fruits, fish, rice or wheaten cakes ; and 
everyone smokes. The pipes are metal ; the 
tobacco is very finely cut, and free from all 
narcotic admixture : opium-smoking is un- 
known in Japan. These establishments, 
where women are the attendants, and where 
external propriety is strictly observed, are, 
for the most part, immoral. This is espe- 
cially the case in respect to those which are 
situated in the vicinity of the toris at Ben- 
ten, a circumstance which probably dates 
from a period at which the little island dedi- 
cated to the patroness of the sea still at- 
tracted a considerable number of pilgrims. 

Residences of Officials. 

At present the altar of the goddess is 
singularly neglected ; but there is a great 
military station in the neighborhood, with 
which the rule of the Tycoon — that of the 
sword — has endowed the city of Yokohama. 
It occupies the entire space between the 
island of Benten and our dwelling. 

The quarter of the "Yakounines" is com- 
posed of the residences of government 
officers employed in the Customs, of the 
harbor police and that of other public places, 
of the Military Instruction, of the guard of 
' the Japanese city, and the superintendents of 
the "free quarter." 

The Yakounines have no outward and 
visible sign of their functions except a large 
pointed hat of lacquered pasteboard, and two 
swords passed through the girdle on the left 
side: one of these is large and two-handled; 
the other, a kind of blade intended for single 
comb?t, is small. These are the only war- 
like pomts in the equipment of these func- 
tionaries. They number several hundreds, 
they are almost all married, each has his 
separate lodging, and all seem to be placed 



on a footing of equality in this respect. It 
is not uninteresting to study the means 
which the Government of the Tycoon has 
adopted for organizing this army of func- 
tionaries into a kind of camp, while retain- 
ing their domestic surroundings. This has 
been effected to a certain extent by the ap- 
plication of the cellular system to family 
life. 

Let the reader picture to himself a collec- 
tion of wooden buildings, forming a long 
square, a lofty wooden wall towards the 
street ; low doors at regular intervals, each 
giving access to a court, which contains a 
small garden, a water cistern, a kitchen and 
other offices. Across the yard, on the 
ground floor, lies a spacious cell, which may 
be subdivided into two or three rooms by 
means of sliding partitions ; the court and 
the cell comprise the lodging of a Yakou- 
nine family. 

Deserted Streets. 

Each of the long blocks of which the 
streets in this quarter are composed encloses 
at least a dozen of these dwellings, six 
ranged side by side, and then six back to 
back with the others. The cells are all 
roofed with green tiles, and no roof is more 
lofty than another. The Yakounine quarter 
is a triumph of straight lines and uniformity. 
The streets are generally empty, because the 
men pass the greater part of the day at the 
Custom House or the guard-houses ; and 
during the absence of its head, every family 
keeps itself within its narrow enclosure. 
Even the door, which is so low that one 
must stoop to pass through, is generally 
shut during this time of seclusion. 

This custom is, however, in one way, 
analogous to the precaution with which Turk- 
ish jealousy surrounds women. It arises 
from the position which Japanese habits as- 



THE COUNTRY AND THE PEOPLE. 



41 



sign to the fathers of families. In each, his 
wife beholds her lord and master. In his 
presence she attends to her domestic duties 
with perfect ease and simplicity, caring noth- 
ing for the presence of a stranger. In his 
absence she observes an extreme reserve, 
which we might be tempted to attribute to 
modesty, but which is more truthfully ex- 
plained by the dependence and intimidation 
imposed on her by marriage. 

Custom of Giving Presents. 

By degrees neighborly relations were 
established between our residences and the 
Yakounine quarter. In Japan, as elsewhere, 
small presents encourage friendship. Wc 
sent some white sugar and some Java coffee 
to certain families where we learned there 
were sick persons, or women in childbed, 
and these small offering were gratefully re- 
ceived. 

One day, when I was alone in the house, 
between four and five o'clock in the after- 
noon, the Mowban came to announce the 
arrival of a feminine deputation from the 
Yakounine quarter, and to ask me whether 
he should send them away. These ladies 
had been authorized by their husbands to 
make their acknowledgments in person, but 
they had profited by the opportunity to ex- 
press their wish to examine our European 
furniture. I told the porter that I would 
gladly undertake to do the honors of the 
house to them. 

Presently I heard the clicking of a number 
of wooden shoes on the gravel walk in the 
garden, and, looking towards the foot of the 
verandah staircase in front of the saloon, I 
saw a group of smiling faces, among which 
I distinguished four married women, two 
young girls, and several children of all ages. 
The former were remarkable for the plainness 
of their dress; no ornament in the hair, no 



light stuffs or bright colors in their garments, 
no pamt on their faces, but their teeth 
painted as black as ebony, as is becoming to 
all married women, according to Japanese 
ideas. 

The young girls, on the contrary, show 
off the natural whiteness of their teeth by a 
layer of carmine on their lip's, put rouge on 
their cheeks, braid their thick hair with strips 
of scarlet crape, and wear wide girdles of 
many colors. The children's dress is simply 
a plain garment and a striped sash ; they 
never wear any head-dress, and their heads 
are shaven, except a few locks, some hang- 
ing loose, others tied together and arranged 
as a chignon. 

Removed Their Shoes. 

After the customary salutations, the ora- 
tors of the deputation — for three or four 
always spoke simultaneously — said many 
pretty things to me in Japanese, to which I 
replied in French, while I made signs to the 
company to enter the drawing-room. It was 
quite clear that they had understood me; I 
could not mistake the expression of thanks; 
and yet, instead of ascending the staircase, 
they seemed to be asking me for an explana- 
tion of some sort. At length my fair friends 
perceived my embarrassment, and, by add- 
ing gestures to language, asked me, " Ought 
we to take off our shoes in the garden, or 
will it suffice if we take them off in the 
veranda? " 

I pronounced in favor of the latter alter- 
native, and my guests immediately ascended 
the stairs, removed their shoes and placed 
them in a line upon the floor, and then glee- 
fully trod the carpets of the drawing-room — 
the children with bare feet, the grown-up 
persons in socks made of cotton-cloth s 
divided into two unequal compartments, one 
for the great toe, and the other for the rest 



42 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



of the foot. This is another peculiarity of 
Japanese dress. 

Their first impression was innocent admira- 
tion, to which general laughter succeeded 
when they all found themselves reflected at 
full length and on all sides, in the long 
mirrors which . came down to the floor. 
While the younger members of the party 
indulged themselves in unwearied contem- 
plation of a scene at once so novel and so 




JAPANESE AT TEA. 

attractive, the matrons asked me the mean- 
ing of the pictures which adorned the room. 
I explained that they represented the Tycoon 
of Holland and his wife, and also several 
great Da'imois, or princes of the reigning 
family. 

They bowed respectfully, but one of them, 
whose curiosity was not satisfied, said, timidly, 
that she supposed they had also taken the 
portrait of his Dutch Majesty's groom. I 



took care not to undeceive her, because she 
would not have understood that it could be 
correct to represent a prince standing beside 
his saddle-horse and holding it by the bridle. 
Others, having attentively examined the vel- 
vet sofas and arm-chairs, told me how a dis- 
pute had arisen between them respecting the 
use of those articles of furniture. 

They agreed as to the easy chairs ; it was, 
no doubt, intended that they should be sat 

upon — but the sofas? 
Surely one ought to 
squat on them with 
crossed legs, especi- 
ally when eating at 
the table in front of 
them. They sincere- 
ly pitied the gentle- 
men and ladies of the 
West, condemned to 
make such inconve- 
nient use of these ar_ 
tides, and actually to 
sit with their legs 
hanging down. My 
room, being open 
and on the same 
level, was speedily 
invaded, and almost 
everything in it was 
a subject of aston- 
ishment to my visi- 
tors, who were none 
the less daughters of Eve because they were 
born in Japan. They were particularly de- 
lighted with a set of uniform buttons bearing 
the Swiss federal cross, according to the 
military rule of my country. I had to give 
them some of these buttons, though I could 
not imagine to what use they could possibly 
apply them, since all Japanese garments, for 
the use of both sexes are simply fastened by 
silken strings. 



THE COUNTRY AND THE PEOPLE. 



43 



The gift of a few articles of Parisian per- 
fumery was highly appreciated, but I praised 
Eau de Cologne quite unsuccessfully. Cam- 
bric handkerchiefs are unknown in Japan. I 
showed them some specimens, very prettily 
embroidered by the gentlewomen of Appen- 
zell; but they explained to me that, though 
the gentility of Tokio might perhaps use 
them as cuffs for their wide and flowing 
night-robes, not the lowest woman of the 
people would hold in her hand or carry in 
her pocket a piece of stuff in which she had 
blown her nose. There is, therefore, no 
chance at present that the little squares 
of paper, made from vegetable substances, 
which they carry in a fold of the dress, in 
the breast, or in a pocket in the sleeve, and 
which are thrown away as each is success- 
ively used, will be supplanted by our bar- 
barous method. Eau de Cologne, however, 
might be used with advantage to counteract 
the briny flavor of the well-water which is 
drunk at Benten. 

Mode of Writing. 

Another point on which my visitors seemed 
to regard the superiority of Japanese civiliza- 
tion as incontestable, is their method of writ- 
ing. The Japanese uses a brush, a stick of 
Chinese ink, and a roll of paper made from 
mulberry leaves. He carries those things 
about with him everywhere : the roll of 
paper is placed in his breast; the brush and 
the inkstand hang in a case from his girdle, 
together with his pipe and his tobacco-bag. 

In order to regain my advantage, I ex- 
hibited a case containing an assortment of 
sewing cotton, needles, and pins, and begged 
the lady Yakounines to use them. They 
unanimously acknowledged the imperfection 
of the working materials of their country, 
where the sewing-machine is unknown. 
Needlework does not occupy in Japan any 



place like that which it takes in our middle- 
class households ; it is never produced dur- 
ing the long gossiping visits which the 
Japanese women interchange. As in Eu- 
rope men have recourse to the cigar, so in 
Japan they season their conversation with 
pipes. 

The visit ended by my giving the children 
some prints representing Swiss landscapes 
and costumes, and showing their elders a 
photographic album containing likenesses of 
all the members of my family, which they 
examined with more than interest, with 
really touching emotion. It is within the 
domain of the natural affections that the 
unity, the identity of the human race in every 
clime and among every people, makes itself 
most sensibly felt, 

"The Whole World Akin." 
What signifies diversity of idiom in the 
presence of that universal language which 
translates itself by the expression of the eye, 
by a tear upon the eyelid, by sweet and 
touching intonations of the voice, like Men- 
delssohn's " Songs without Words?" The 
traveller is, in the sight of all primitive 
peoples, a being who deserves the deepest 
pity, for he is separated from all that consti- 
tutes the charm of life — the family, the 
paternal roof, the country of his ancestors. 
Religious admiration would be mingled 
with the compassion he inspires if he had 
left his country to accomplish a pious pil- 
grimage in a distant land, but that a man 
should cross the seas merely in the interest 
of terrestrial objects is a thing incomprehen- 
sible to the Japanese. They might admit 
the notion of my being a political exile, the 
victim of the severity of my Government; 
but when they learn that I am neither 
a pilgrim nor proscribed, astonishment min- 
gled with a kind of fright is added to their 



44 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



artless sympathy and they appear to consider 
me an object of pity. 

All good people who compose the popu- 
lation of the beach accost me in the friendliest 
manner. The children bring me beautiful 
glistening shells, and the women do their 
best to make me understand the culinary 
properties of the hideous little marine mon- 
sters which they pile up in their baskets. 
This spontaneous kindliness and cordiality 
is a characteristic common to all the lower 
classes of Japanese society. More than 
once, when I have been going on foot 
about the suburbs of Nagasaki or Yoko- 
hama, the country people have invited me 
to step inside their little enclosures. 

Japanese Hospitality. 

Then they would show me their flowers, 
and cut the best among them to make up a 
bouquet for me. It was always in vain that 
I offered them money ; they never accepted 
it, and were not satisfied until I had crossed 
their threshold and partaken of tea and rice- 
cakes with them. 

Spring is the most tempting season for 
exploring the coasts of the Bay of Yeddo. 
From the heights on its borders the inland 
scene, stretching away to the foot of Fousi- 
yama, presents an uninterrupted succession 
of wooded hills and cultivated valleys, diver- 
sified by rivers or gulfs, which at a distance 
look like lakes. The villages on their banks 
are half hidden in rich foliage, and large 
farms, approached by shady roads, may be 
traced out at various points of the land- 
scape. 

The precocity of the vegetation in the rice- 
grounds and on the cultivated hills, the quan- 
tity of evergreen trees on every side, deprives 
the springtide of Japan of that fresh and bud- 
ding aspect which is one of its chief beauties 
elsewhere. And yet, where can be found a 



more luxuriant spring vegetation, more rich 
in beautiful details ? All along the hedges, 
in the orchards, and about the villages, tufts 
of flowers and foliage of dazzling hue stand 
out against the dark tints of a background 
of pines, firs, cedars, cypress, laurels, green 
oak, and bamboos. 

Here we find the great white flowers of 
the wild mulberry; there, camelias growing 
in the open country, as tall as our apple 
trees ; everywhere, cherry trees, plum trees, 
peach trees, generally laden with double 
flowers, some quite white, others bright 
red, and sometimes white and red on the 
same branches; for many of the Japanese 
do not care at all for the fruit of these trees, 
but cultivate and graft them merely for the 
sake of the double flowers, and to vary or 
combine the species. 

The Tufted Bamboo. 

The bamboo, much employed in the ca- 
pacity of a support to these trees, frequently 
lends his elegant foliage to the branches of 
young fruit trees which have no other adorn- 
ment than their bunches of flowers. But I 
love the bamboo most when it grows in soli- 
tary groups, like a tuft of gigantic reeds. 
There is nothing more picturesque in the 
whole landscape than these tall green pol- 
ished stems, with their golden streaks and 
their tufted tops, and all around the chiefs 
the young slender offshoots with their 
feathered heads, and a multitude of long 
leaves streaming in the wind like thousands 
of fluttering pennons. 

The bamboo groves are favorite subjects 
of study with the Japanese painters, whether 
they limit themselves to reproduce the grace- 
ful lines and harmonious effects, or enliven 
the picture by adding some of the live 
creatures which seek their verdant shelter 
— the little birds, the butterflies, and, in 



THE COUNTRY AND THE PEOPLE. 



45 



lonely places, the weasel, the ferret, the 
black squirrel, and the red-faced brown 
monkey. 

All the waysides are bordered with violets, 
but they are scentless. The country pro- 
duces a very small number of odoriferous 
plants, and it is remarkable that the lark, 
the nightingale, and other singing birds are 
very rare. Perhaps the lack of perfume 
and of song, in the midst of all the wealth of 
a luxuriant vegetation, helps to diminish the 
effect upon the imagination which it seems 
to me Japanese scenery ought to produce. 
It is certain that in contemplating it one does 
not experience that sense of dreamy exalta- 
tion and tenderness which is produced by the 
sight of a European landscape in the spring- 
time, when nature is waking up. 

Without going into the question of the 
extent to which our sensibility is fed by the 
remembrance of childhood, and the tradi- 
tional ideas which find no application in the 
world of the Far East, I think the cooling of 
our enthusiasm may be accounted for by the 
fact that, in Japan, nature is over-cultivated. 

Excess of Cultivation. 

With the exception of the forests and 
other plantations of trees, which the govern- 
ment maintains with praiseworthy care, the 
entire soil is invaded by cultivation to an ex- 
tent which almost defies description. Early 
in April the fields outside the woods are 
covered with buckwheat in full flower. In 
four or five weeks' time, on the lower 
ground, they will be reaping the barley and 
wheat sown in November. In Japan they 
sow corn as we plant potatoes, that is in re- 
gular, perfectly straight rows, and between 
each of these there is an interval of free 
space in which is already sprouting a pecu- 
liar species of beans, which will spring up 
when the field shall have been reaped. That 



green surface which might be taken for 
sprouting corn is a field of millet, which was 
sown in March and will be ripe in Septem- 
ber. Millet is eaten by the natives in as 
large quantities as wheat ; they grind it into 
flour, and make cakes or porridge of it. 

On an adjacent plain there is a laborer till- 
ing the ground by means of a small plough 
drawn by one horse. In the fertile soil he 
will sow the seed of the cotton-tree, and in 
September or October each seed will have 
produced a plant two or three feet high, 
laden with twenty capsules arrived at matur- 
ity. Several white birds of the stork or 
heron family seem to be working in concert 
with the agriculturist ; they follow him about 
gravely, and, by plunging their long beaks 
into the half-opened furrow, they destroy the 
larva which the plough has just turned up. 

How Rice is Cultivated. 

In the depth of the valley are rice-grounds, 
which were laid under water about a month 
a g°> by the opening of the sluice-gates of 
the irrigation canals. While in this state, 
the soil is broken up by the plough, and 
trodden by the feet of the buffaloes and the 
laborers ; the latter treading up to their 
calves in the clay, and breaking the stubborn 
clumps with pickaxes. When the earth has 
been mashed into a kind of liquid paste, 
men and women go step by step along the 
dykes of the enclosure, and throw in hand- 
fuls of seed upon the square spaces destined 
to form the nursery ground. 

Then these are turned over with a kind of 
rake, in order to distribute and bury the seed. 
Now the water has subsided, the nursery 
ground puts forth its thick, close crop, and 
the cultivators tear it up, roots and stems 
together, to transplant them carefully in the 
large squares of soft earth which have not 
yet been utilized, in tufts arranged in a 



46 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



chequered pattern at regular intervals. There 
the rice will grow and ripen, to be cut in the 
month of October. 

Until then it has to dread the pretty little 
red and white breasted birds which fall like 
hail on the grain-laden stems, shake the ripe 
fruit to the ground, and set to their work of 
pillage with shrill notes of joy, dancing on 
their little feet after a fashion full of charm 
for the impartial observer, but which inspires 



prevention, provided that it is kept in incess- 
ant motion. This is the task of a boy, who, 
when there is not sufficient wind to shake the 
net, pulls the cord attached to it, like a bell- 
rope, and thus keeps it going. The child 
sits in a lofty seat, perched on four bamboos, 
under a little roof formed of reeds. 

Several kinds of rice are grown in Japan. 
That of the plains is the most highly 
esteemed : that of the hills does not require 







CASTLE AT MATSUYAMA, JAPAN. 



the proprietor with far different feelings. The 
persecuted rice-growers resort to all kinds of 
scarcecrows, which they set up at the most 
seriously menaced points, but without much 
apparent effect upon the morals of the thriv- 
ing birds. 

In one place, a complete network of cords 
of plaited straw, garnished with swinging 
appendages of the same material, is fixed on 
poles, and extended above the rice-field, 
forming a perfectly efficacious method of 



to be so long submerged as the former, but 
I have seen it subjected, in the spring, to 
processes of irrigation which have cost much 
labor ; in the formation of reservoirs on the 
upper level of the hill, and the establishment 
of numerous canals, discharging themselves 
upon all the terraces prepared for rice culture. 
Each terrace thus converted into a rice- 
ground will bear, next autumn, wheat or 
millet. The Japanese may perhaps clear 
some mountain-land now and then, but they 



THE COUNTRY AND THE PEOPLE. 



47 



will never leave land capable of being tilled, 
fallow. 

The tea-plant is not cultivated in our dis- 
trict. It is occasionally met with under 
certain favorable circumstances, but the real 
tea-districts are several days' journey north 
and west of the bay. We are much nearer 
to the silk-growing districts, and there would 
be nothing to prevent the development of 
this industry in our immediate vicinity, if 
there were sufficient space for the cultivation 
of the mulberry-tree. 

It strikes me, in short, that the population 
by whom I am surrounded, and the inhabi- 
tants of the southern coasts of Niphon 
generally, leave to the natives of the interior 
the production of the most valuable articles 
of commerce, such as silk, tea, and even 
cotton, which is not very abundant on our 
coasts; while they devote themselves some 
'•to fishing and water-carriage, and others to 
agriculture in its strict sense — the production 
| of cereals and leguminous and oleaginous 
plants ; also to horticulture, and the growth 
of flax, straw, reeds, and bamboos. 

The " Mountain People." 

Among the peasant population of the fer- 
tile valleys which border the Bay of Yeddo, 
one frequently meets men of a more vigorous 
'race, whose aspect, though kindly, seems to 
denote a certain independence of character or 
i of manner of life. These are the "mountain 
people," or the inhabitants of the chain of the 
Akoni, at the foot of Fousi-yama. 

The business which brings them down to 
the plains is very various in its nature : for 
some, it is dealing in wood for ships and 
building ; for others, it is dealing in firewood. 
Some are carrying baggage on pack-horses 
from the provinces in the interior to such or 
such a port on the bay ; others are employed 
in hauling the canal-boats, and among them 



recruits are made for a select tribe ot nunters, 
as well as for a portion of the Tycoon's 
trcops of the line ; that is, the infantry com- 
panies, among whom European arms of 
precision have been introduced. 

Unfortunately, the country inhabited by 
these passing guests is almost entirely inac- 
cessible to strangers. If certain native state- 
ments are to be believed, bridges, aqueducts, 
and dams of most marvellous construction 
exist there, which baffle the imagination 
when one thinks of the imperfection of the 
instruments with which they have been made. 
The resources which the Japanese possess in 
raw material are not accorded to our climates. 
The bamboo, for instance, furnishes a natural 
conduit for hydraulic purposes, whose excel- 
lence yields to no product of modern in- 
dustry. 

Variety of Bridges. 

It is employed in the formation of sus- 
pension-bridges in the place of wire. In 
the mountains of Kiousiou there is a bridge, 
flung from one rock to another across a 
deep abyss, by means of a hanging staircase 
formed of huge pieces of bamboo laid in 
line, and fitted over one another longitudi- 
nally. t The Japanese traverse great rivers on 
bridges made of casks, and managed by 
straw ropes. They cross terrific ravines by 
bridges of rope, and even by means of a 
single rope, along which slips a kind of 
aerial ferry-boat. 

In a country like theirs, where the Gov- 
ernment maintains only one public Highway 
— the great military road called the Toikado 
— the inhabitants, reduced to their own re- 
sources, strive to establish the communica- 
tions which they require at the least possible 
cost. Hence the infinite variety of their 
contrivances for transport by land and by 
water. A cunous specimen of the latter is 



48 



the means devised to enable the women who 
are engaged in rice cultivation to cross the 
submerged lands. Four tubs, fastened to- 
gether between the angles of two crossed 
planks, are packed with as many persons and 
as large a quantity of provisions as this 
sigular equipage can accommodate, and two 
of the passengers propel it with poles. The 
same talent for utilizing the simplest means 
of action, the most primitive instruments, the 
most elementary processes, is equally to be 
traced in the arts and handicrafts in Japan. 
But there is a very important part of their 
social life which either escapes us or which 
it is very difficult for us to study. 

We can only see the people at work in the 
fields and in some of the village sheds. The 
docks, the workshops and the factories in 
the industrial cities, the artistic conceptions, 
and the most original productions of their 
autonomic civilization, are carefully hidden 
from us by the police restrictions of a jealous 
government. Nevertheless, little by little 
the light is coming, and a day will soon 
dawn when, in this respect also, Japan shall 
be opened to the investigations of science. 

The country around Yokohama is thor- 
oughly cultivated and covered with dwel- 
lings. The isolated houses are built near 
the roads, and even those which line the 
highway are usually entirely open, and free 
to light and air. In order to enjoy the fresh 
breezes, the inhabitants shove to the right 
and left the movable screens which enclose 
their dwellings, and thus completely expose 
their domestic arrangements to the view of 
those who pass. 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 

It is therefore not difficult to observe their 
manner of living, as well as the distinctive 
characteristics of the different classes of so 
ciety. The conventional separation of the 
latter does not seem to depend on any im 
portant difference of blood or of habits. The 
families of the Yakounin live in the same 
manner, and with the same domestic cus- 
toms, as those of the peasants and me- 
chanics; and, with the exception of a 
greater luxury in dress and meals, th 
households of the higher government of- 
ficials are very similar. 

A Japanese lady's dress will often repre- 
sent a value of $200, without counting the 
ornaments for her hair. A woman of the 
smaller shop-keeping class may have on 
her, when she goes out holiday-making, 
some $40 or $50 worth. A gentleman will 
rarely spend on his clothes as much as he 
lets his wife spend on hers. Perhaps he/ 



■ 



may not have on more than $60 worth. 
Thence, through a gradual decline in price, || 
we come to the coolie's poor trappings, 
which may represent as little as $5, or even 
$2, as he stands. 

Children's dress is more or less a repeti- 
tion in miniature of that of their elders. 
Long swaddling-clothes are not in use. 
Young children have, however, a bib. They 
wear a little cap on their heads, and at their 
side hangs a charm-bag, made out of a bit'" 
of some bright-colored damask, containing ^ 
a charm supposed to protect them from 
being run over, washed away, etc. A metal 
ticket is generally fastened about them as a. 
precaution against getting lost. 






CHAPTER HI. 
DOMESTIC LIFE IN JAPAN. 



THE country may be reached from 
Benten without passing through 
the Japanese city. Beyond the 
precincts of the holy place, a wide 
pathway supported on piles forms a road 
alongside the river. From this road, which 
leads to a suburb occupied by poor artisans, 
and terminated by a military guard-house 
and a Customs' station, we look down upon 
the low streets and the marsh of Yokohama. 
A handsome wooden bridge, built on piles 
sufficiently high to permit the passage of 
sailing-boats, crosses the river, and joins the 
footpath on the left bank. 

By following this footpath to the northeast, 
we reach the high road of Kanagawa ; and 
by taking the southeast direction, we come 
to the country roads leading to the Bay of 
the Mississippi. 

The country is covered on every side with 
cultivated land, and the habitations are ex- 
ceedingly numerous. The isolated houses 
near the road, and those which border on 
the village streets, are generally open, and 
may, so to speak, be seen through. The 
inhabitants, in order to establish currents of 
air, slide the screens which form their walls 
into the grooves on the right and left, so 
that the interiors of their houses are freely 
exhibited to the sight of the passers-by. 

Under such conditions it is not difficult to 
form a correct idea of household life, and to 
observe the distinctive characters of a 
national type, as well as the domestic 
manners of the native population. The con- 
ventional separation between classes in Japa- 
Ja.— 4 



nese society does not rest upon essential dii 
ference of race, or of modes of life. 

From the height of the hill on which the 
residence of the Governors of Kanagawa is 
situated I have more than once had occasion 
to examine and observe, on one side, some 
buildings set apart for the dwellings of the 
Yakounines, and on the other groups of 
houses or cottages belonging to artisans and 
cultivators. In the courtyards, formed by 
divisions made of planks which separate the 
military caste from the others, I remarked 
exactly the same habits, the same modes of 
life, which I saw publicly in action in the 
courtyards of the plebeians. 

Appearance of the Japanese. 

My later observation of the houses of the 
high Government functionaries only confirms 
me in the belief that we may reduce the 
chief types and the domestic manners of the 
whole population of the centre of the Em- 
pire — that is to say, of the three great islands 
of Kiousiou, Sikoff, and Niphon — to certain 
general features. 

The Japanese are of middling height, very 
inferior to the men of the Germanic race, 
but not without some resemblance to the in- 
habitants of the southwest of the Iberian 
peninsula. 

There is more difference in height between 
the men and the women of Japan than in 
those of Europe and America. According 
to the observations of Dr. Mohnike, formerly 
physician to the Dutch Factory of Decima, 
the average height of the men is five feet one 

49 



50 



inch, and that of the women from four feet 
one inch to four feet three inches. 

The Japanese, without being precisely dis- 
proportioned, have generally large heads, 
rather sunk in the shoulders, wide chests, 
long bodies, narrow hips, short and thin legs, 
small feet, and slight and remarkably beauti- 
ful hands. Their retreating foreheads and 
large and prominent cheek-bones make their 
faces represent the geometrical figure of the 
trapeze rather than that of the oval. 

The cavities of the eyes being very shallow, 
and the cartilage of the nose rather flattened, 
the eyes in almost every case are more on 
the surface than those of the European, and 
sometimes very narrow. But, nevertheless, 
the general effect is not that of the Chinese 
or Mongol type. The head of the Japanese 
is large, the face is long, and on the average 
more regular. Finally, the nose is more 
prominent, better formed, and sometimes 
even aquiline. According to Dr. Mohnike, 
the Japanese head is that of the Turanian 
race. 

Complexion and Hair. 

All the Japanese population, without ex- 
ception, have fine, thick, straight and lustrous 
black hair. The women's hair is shorter 
than in the European and Malay countries. 
The Japanese have thick beards, but they 
shave at least every second day. The color 
of their skin varies according to the differ- 
ent classes of society, from the copper tints 
of the interior of Java to the sunburnt white 
of the natives of Southern Europe. The 
predominant shade is olive-brown, but it 
never resembles the yellow tint of the Chinese. 

Unlike those of Europeans, the face and 
hands of the Japanese are generally less 
colored than the body; little children and 
young persons of both sexes have rosy com- 
plexions, red cheeks, and the same indica- 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 

tions of robust health which we like to see in 
persons of our own race. 

The women have fairer complexions than 
the men : we saw several persons of rank, 
and even in the middle classes, who were 
perfectly white ; the ladies of the aristocracy 
regard excessive paleness as a mark of dis- 
tinction. Nevertheless, both one and the 
other are separated from the European type 
by those two indelible marks of race — nar- 
row eyes, and the ungraceful depression of 
the chest which is always evident even in 
persons in the flower of their youth, and 
endowed with the greatest natural charms. 



A Singular Custom. 

Both men and women have black eyes, 
white and perfect teeth, separated by regular 
interstices, and slightly projecting. It is the 
custom for married women to blacken their 
teeth. In this we trace a tradition of Java, 
where the women file their teeth down to the 
gums ; or of the Malay country in general, 
where everyone has black teeth, produced by 
the use of the betel. 

The mobility of expression and the great 
variety of physiognomy, which we remark 
amongst the Japanese, seem to me to be the 
result of an intellectual development more 
spontaneous, more original, and in short 
more free, than is to be met with amongst 
any other people in Asia. 

The national garment of the Japanese is 
the "kirimon." It is a kind of open dress- 
ing-gown, made a little longer and more 
ample for women than for men. It is crossed 
at the waist by means of a sash, which for 
men is made of a straight and narrow piece 
of silk — for women, of a large piece of stuff 
elegantly tied at the back. 

The Japanese wear no linen, but they bathe 
every day. The women wear a chemise of 
red silk crape. In summer, the peasants, the 




JAPANESE FAMIEY. 



51 



52 



fishermen, the artisans and the coolies do 
their work in a state of almost complete 
nudity, and the women merely wear a single 
petticoat. During the rains they wear 
large cloaks of straw or oil-paper, and hats 
of bamboo bark, made like those of Java, in 
the form of shields. 

In winter the working-men wear a jacket 
and trousers of blue cotton under the kiri- 
mon, and the women one or several wadded 
mantles, but generally there is no difference 
between their costumes, excepting in the 
nature of the materials. Persons of the 
middle class and of the nobility never go 
out without jacket and trousers. The nobles 
alone have a right to wear silk, and only 
dress richly to go to Court, or to make 
visits of ceremony. The officers of the 
Government, and the Yakounines on duty 
wear wide trailing trousers ; and replace the 
kirimon by an overcoat with large sleeves, 
which however only comes down to the hips, 
and is rather elegantly cut. Every one 
wears the same coverings for the feet, which 
consist of sandals of plaited straw, or wooden 
slippers fastened by a cord in which the great 
toe is caught. 

Covering for the Feet. 

When the roads are muddy, the people 
wear a simple wooden sole, resting upon two 
smaller pieces placed crosswise. During the 
greater portion of the year the working 
people merely use straw sandals. Each, on 
returning to his own house, or on presenting 
himself at that of a stranger, removes his 
socks or his sandals and leaves them at the 
door. 

The floors of the Japanese houses are con- 
stantly covered with mats. As they are all 
of the same size, which is so invariable that 
the mat is used as a standard measure — it is 
never difficult to arrange them in an apart- 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 

ment. They are uniformly six feet three 
inches long, three feet two inches wide, and 
four inches thick. 

They are made of rice-straw, very care- 
fully plaited ; by combining them with the 
grooves made in the floor and with the slid- 
ing screens which form the walls of the 
rooms, the Japanese divides his habitation 
into small or large rooms ; but the dimen- 
sions are always regular, and he modifies 
this distribution exactly as it pleases him, 
without trouble, and never departing from 
the exactly symmetrical lines. 



Serves Many Uses. 

The mat dispenses with all other furniture : 
it is the mattress on which the Japanese 
passes the night, wrapped up in an ample 
dressing-gown, and under a large wadded 
counterpane, with his head resting on a little 
bolster made of strips of bamboo ; on it he 
sets out the utensils of lacquer and porcelain 
used at his meals ; on it the bare feet of his 
children tread ; it is the divan where, crouch- 
ing on his heels, surrounded by his friends 
and his guests, all crouching like him, he 
indulges in interminable talk, drinking a de- 
coction of tea unmingled with any other 
ingredient, and smoking tobacco out of 
microscopic pipes. 

In all the inns of Japan we find what is 
called the " bali-bali," a moveable floor like 
a great table, covered with mats and raised 
only a foot above the ground. On this the 
traveller sits or crouches, eats, drinks, takes 
a siesta, and chats with his neighbors. The 
Japanese house is nothing more than the 
"baH-bali " brought to perfection, a temporary 
refuge in which to take shelter when the 
labors of the street and the country are ter- 
minated ; but it is not the centre of exist- 
ence, if we may be permitted to use that 
expression at all in speaking of a people 



DOMESTIC LIFE IN JAPAN. 



53 



who live from day to day, forgetful of yes- 
terday, not caring for to-morrow. 

One day when I had been listening to the 
recitation of half a dozen of the young boys 
in our neighborhood, who were squatting in 
front of their schoolmaster, I asked what 
was the name of the exercise that they were 
repeating in chorus. I was told that they 
were practising to recite the " Irova," a sort 
of alphabet in which not the vowels and con- 
sonants, but the fundamental signs of the 
Japanese language, are collected and grouped 
in four lines. 

The Japanese Alphabet. 

The number of those sounds is fixed at 
forty-eight, and instead of classifying them 
in grammatical elements according to the 
organs of speech, they have been made into 
a little piece of poetry, whose first word, 
" Irova," gives its name to the alphabet. As 
nearly as I can reproduce the sense of the 
rhyme, this is it : — 

' ' Color and odor alike pass away. 
In our world nothing is permanent. 
The present day has disappeared in the profound 

abyss of nothingness. 
It was but the pale image of a dream ; it causes us 

not the least regret." 

This national alphabet told me more of 
the character of the Japanese people than I 
might have found in volumes. For centu- 
ries the generations who were departing re- 
peated to the generation who were coming, 
" There is nothing permanent in this world ; 
the present passes like a dream, and its 
flight causes not the slightest trouble." 
That this popular philosophy of nothing- 
ness does not give full satisfaction to the 
needs of the soul, is quite evident when we 
consider how largely the manifestations of 
religious sentiment have developed of late ; 
nevertheless, it is probable that it acts inces- 



santly as a latent force, and its influence is 
felt in all the details of life. 

The children profit most by the way of 
life to which this gives rise. In the first 
place, it is granted by everyone that the 
child ought to have its own way. Fathers 
and mothers derive their pleasure from the 
observance of this natural law. Every means 
of enjoyment for children, every subject of 
their amusement, becomes a source of per- 
sonal satisfaction to the parents ; they give 
themselves up to it with all their hearts, and 
it suits the children admirably. Travellers 
who have said that Japanese children never 
cry, have stated with very little exaggeration 
of expression a perfectly real phenomenon. 
It is explained by circumstances to which I 
have alluded, as well as by certain external 
conditions. 

Mother and Babe. 

The Japanese is husband to only one wife, 
who passes almost without transition from 
her doll to her child, and preserves for a 
long time her natural infantile character. On 
the other hand, the national custom does not 
permit her to bring up her baby too care- 
fully. She is obliged to expose it to the 
atmospheric influences, carrying it into the 
air every day, even at noon, with its head 
shaven, and perfectly naked. In order to 
carry the child about as long as possible 
without much fatigue, the woman places it 
upon her back, fastening it like a package 
between her chemise and the collar of her 
kirimon. 

Thus the wives of the peasants may con- 
stantly be seen working in the fields with a 
little head wagging between their shoulders. 
In the house the children may be left to 
themselves without any uneasiness ; they can 
roll about among the mats, crawling on all- 
fours and trying to stand upright, because 



54 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



there is no furniture against which they can 
hurt themselves, nor any object which they 
can knock down or break. 

Their companions are the domestic ani- 
mals — little pug-dogs with short legs and 
tremendously fat bodies, and a particular 
species of cat with white fur marked with 
yellow and black stripes, which are exceed- 
ingly bad mousers, very idle and very affec- 



there are cages made of bamboo bark, con- 
structed on the models of the most elegant 
habitations, and containing large butterflies 
shut up there on a bed of flowers, or grass- 
hoppers, in whose strident and monotonous 
cry the natives take great delight. 

Such are the surroundings amid which 
the Japanese child grows up without any 
restraint in the paternal house, which is 




A JAPANESE RESIDENCE. 



donate. Like the cats of Java and the Isle 
of Man, these animals have no tails. 

Every family in easy circumstances pos- 
sesses an aquarium, containing fish — red, 
silver, gold, transparent — some round as a 
ball, others ornamented with a long wide 
tail or fin, which performs the office of a 
rudder, and which floats about like a piece 
of extremely fine gauze. In all the houses 



merely a sort of shady playground where 
pleasure is the chief pursuit. 

His parents are prodigal of toys, and 
games, and entertainments, as much for their 
own enjoyment as in the interest of his edu- 
cation. His lessons, properly speaking, con- 
sist in singing in chorus, at the top of his 
voice, the "Irova," and drawing with his 
brush and Chinese ink the first letters of the 



DOMESTIC LIFE IN JAPAN. 



55 



alphabet, then words, then phrases. There 
is no compulsion and no precipitation about 
these lessons, because they are certain things 
of undeniable utility that can only be ac- 
quired by long practice. No one ever thinks 
of depriving his child of the benefits of in- 
struction. There are no scholastic rules, no 
measures of coercion for recalcitrant parents, 
and nevertheless the whole adult population 
can read, write and calculate. There is 
something estimable in the pedagogic regime 
of Japan. 

This has been greatly improved during 
the latter half of our century and is to be 
attributed to the contact of the Japanese 
with western civilization. The people are 
awake to new ideas and methods of educa- 
tion. Teachers from America and Europe 
have found positions in Japanese schools 
and the authorities have not been slow to 
adopt some features of the school systems 
of more enlightened countries. 

Beautiful Fancy Work. 

Japanese houses are furnished with evi- 
dences of taste and frequently with rare 
specimens of fancy work. Notwithstanding 
its bonzes, its astrologers and its academical 
poets, the ancient. Japanese civilization was 
not without its popular period, which has 
left an indelible impression upon taste at 
Kioto. All works which come out of the 
workshops of the old capital are distinct 
from everything that one sees elsewhere. 

But the admiration which they inspire is 
mingled with a feeling of regret, for by a 
singular contradiction they attain an aston- 
ishing perfection in the imitation of animal 
and vegetable nature, whilst on approaching 
the sphere of human life they present only 
types without reality, and figures cut on 
conventional patterns. Evidently the noble 
faculties revealed in the conceptions and in 



the handiwork of the national artists were 
arrested in their development by official 
rules, and hindered for want of a method 
superior to that suggested to them by the 
fashions of the Court. 

Thus, art as well as literature became a 
conventional and hollow routine in its sub- 
servience to the Mikados. We may even 
add, that at the decline of the Mikados it 
remained exactly the same as it had been in 
the height of their power ; and it is a remark- 
able fact that it has not since degenerated or 
become corrupt. 

Verdure and Flowers. 

The working population of the ancient 
Imperial cities has not changed for centuries. 
Amid institutions which have fallen into de- 
crepitude it does not exhibit the slightest 
trace of the decadence and debility which 
are common to every class of Chinese 
society. China awakes in the mind at every 
moment the image of a worm-eaten, dusty 
edifice, inhabited by aged invalids. But in 
Japan there are really neither ruins nor dust, 
the fresh vegetation of its always green 
islands is matched by that appearance of un- 
alterable youth which transmits itself gener- 
ation after generation among the inhabitants 
of this happy country, who ornament even 
their last dwellings with the emblems of 
eternal spring. 

Their cemeteries abound with verdure and 
flowers in all seasons. Their tombs, simple 
commemorative tablets, perserve the recol- 
lection of all dead without any symbol of 
destruction. Every family has its separate 
enclosure and every dead person a stone in 
the common resting-place ; the tradition of 
those who are no more is carried on from 
hill to hill among the gardens of the sacred 
groves, even to the extremities of the sub- 
urbs of their cities. 



56 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



At Nagasaki this picture seems perfect. 
The city stretches out at the foot of a chain 
of mountains, of little height, which have 
been cut out into terraces, forming an am- 
phitheatre of funeral ground in the eastern 
quarter of the city. 

Here, one is in the presence of two cities : 
in the plain, the city of the living lies in the 
sun, with its long and wide streets bordered 
with fragile wooden houses and inhabited by 
an ephemeral crowd ; on the mountain is the 
necropolis, with its walls and monuments of 
granite, its trees hundreds of years old, its 
solemn calm. 

Festival for the Dead- 

The inhabitants of Nagasaki, when they 
raise their eyes in the direction of the moun- 
tain, must think involuntarily of the innum- 
erable generations which have passed away 
before them from the face of the earth. That 
multitude of stones raised upon the terrace, 
standing up clear against the blue haze of 
the distance, keeps alive among them the 
idea that the spirits of their ancestors come 
back from their tombs, and that, mute, but 
attentive, they contemplate the life of the 
city. 

One day of the year, towards the end of 
the month of August, the entire population 
invite these spirits to a solemn festival, which 
is prolonged during three consecutive nights. 
On the first evening the tombs of all persons 
who have died during the past year are 
lighted by lanterns, painted in different colors. 

On the second and third nights, all the 
tombs without exception, the old as well as 
the new, participate in a similar illumination, 
and all the families of Nagasaki come out 
and install themselves in the cemeteries, 
where they give themselves up to drinking 
abundantly in honor of their ancestors. 

But on the third night, about three o'clock 



in the morning, long processions of lights 
come down from the heights and group 
themselves together on the borders of the 
bay, while the mountain gradually resumes 
its darkness and its silence. The souls of 
the dead men have embarked and disappeared 
before the dawn. Thousands of small straw 
boats have been fitted up for them, each 
provided with fruit and small pieces of money. 
These fragile barks are laden with all the 
painted paper lamps which had served for 
the illuminations of the cemeteries, their little 
sails of mat are spread, and the morning 
breeze disperses them over the water, where 
they are soon consumed. Thus the entire 
flotilla is burnt, and for a long time the 
traces of fire may be seen dancing over the 
waves. But the dead go quickly. Finally, 
the last ship disappears, the last light is ex- 
tinguished, the last soul has again bidden 
adieu to the earth. At the rising of the sun 
there is no trace of the dead or of the merry- 
makers. 

The Ancient Religion. 

In ancient times the Japanese had no 
other religion than that of the Kamis : the 
honors of a special sepulture were awarded 
only to persons of a certain importance, who 
were allowed a resting-place distinct from 
the cemeteries reserved for the common 
people. 

The ceremonies of the burial of the dead 
had, in ancient times, a very solemn char- 
acter, but suggestive to the beholder rather 
of the triumph of a hero. Beside the dead 
man, in the tomb, was laid his coat of mail, 
his arms, all his most precious possessions : 
even his principal servants followed him to 
the sepulchre, and his favorite horse was 
immolated to his manes. These barbarous 
customs were abolished in the first century 
of our era. L,ay figures replaced human 



DOMESTIC LIFE IN JAPAN. 



57 



victims, and only the picture of a horse was 
sacrificed. A few strokes of a brush, boldly 
dashed upon a plank of wood, represented 
the image of the four-footed companion of 
the dead, and this plank was enclosed in the 
tomb. 

Pictures of Horses. 

The native painters display such skill in 
the execution of these designs, that these 
Yemas, or sketches of horses, have become 
artistic curiosities ; and numbers of them 
exist in various chapels in the towns and 
country places, and are regarded as votive 
pictures. Amateurs search eagerly for 
Yemas upon the screens in the old houses 
and in the palaces of Tokio. A few of them 
may be found among the presents sent by the 
Tycoon to foreign Governments. 

This kind of drawing was not regarded 
with favor by the Court of the Mikado, 
where miniature painting was much in fashion. 
The works of the miniature painters of Kioto 
remind us of the mediaeval missals : they are 
painted on vellum, with the same profusion 
of color on a golden background ; the manu- 
script is ornamented by plates in the text, 
and rolled upon an ivory cylinder, or upon a 
stick of precious wood, with metal ornaments 
inserted in the ends. 

Collections of poetry, almanacs, litanies, 
prayers, and romances are generally bound 
up into volumes. Ladies use microscopic 
prayer-books ; and they and the poets of 
Kioto employ no other almanacs than the 
calendar of flowers, in which the months and 
their subdivisions are represented by sym- 
bolical bouquets. There is also a calendar 
of the blind, and collections of prayers exist 
in characters of unknown origin. 

The dress of the women of quality not 
only indicates their rank and condition, but 
is always in harmony, as to its color and the 



subjects embroidered upon the garments, 
with the time and the seasons, the flowers, 
and the productions of the different months 
of the year. The months themselves are 
never called by their names, but by their 
attributes. The month Amiable draws the 
bonds of friendship closer by visits and pre- 
sents on the new year ; the month of " the 
awakening of nature " is the third month of 
the year ; the month of Missives, which is 
the seventh, has one day assigned to the 
exchange of letters of congratulation; and 
the twelfth is that of "the business of the 
masters," because it obliges them to leave 
the house in order to attend to the regulation 
of their affairs. 

Free Use of Symbols. 

The architectural works of the Japanese, 
the products of their industry — everything 
that comes out of the hands of their copora- 
tions of arts and trades — indicate symbolical 
research mingled with great purity of taste 
in the imitation of nature. In all the temples 
and palaces we find ornaments in sculptured 
wood, which represent a bank of clouds, 
above which rises the front of the edifice. 
The grand entrance of the Da'iri is decorated 
with a golden sun surrounded by the signs 
of the Zodiac ; the portals of the temples 
devoted to Buddhism are surmounted by 
two elephants' heads, which indicate that this 
religion came from India; the carpenters' 
tools all bear symbolical devices. 

The favorite designs of their mosaics and 
their carvings in wood are borrowed from the 
lines described by the foaming waves of the 
sea and the basalt rocks cut by the waters ; 
bats and cranes are represented with ex- 
tended wings; the iris, the water-lily, and 
the lotus are always in full flower; the 
bamboo, the cedar, the palm-tree, and the 
pear-tree, are either isolated or combined 



58 



with the most graceful climbing plants 
natnre is brought under tribute. 

We observed numerous ornaments whose 
signification we could not discover. Within 
the precincts of the Da'iri there is a bronze 
vase which coarsely represents a bird of some 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE 
All 




THE COURT OF THE MIKADO. 



unknown kind, of the height of a man. 
This is one of the most ancient monuments 
of native art. It is called the Tori-Kame ; 
its origin and use are unknown. Other vases 
of great antiquity, mounted on pedestals, and 
which serve as perfume-burners, are carved 



with designs representing the head and scales 
of the crocodile, an animal unknown in 
Japan. 

The tortoise and the heron, which figure 
frequently in the composition of perfume- 
vases and sacred candelabra, are emblems of 
immortality, or at least of 
longevity. The Foo, a 
mythological bird common 
to both China and Japan, 
is found upon the lintels of 
the door of the Da'iri, as 
an emblem of eternal happi- 
ness. These same mytho- 
logical images, and others 
which it would take too 
long to enumerate, are re- 
produced in the designs of 
the rich stuffs worked in 
silk, gold, and silver, which 
form the glory and the 
pride of the weavers of 
Kioto ; and also in the 
carvings and engravings on 
plates of gold, silver, red 
copper, and steel, with 
which the native jewelers 
decorate the handles and 
the scabbards of swords, 
portable inkstands, pipes, 
tobacco-boxes, and other 
ornaments ; in short, in all 
the innumerable utensils, 
pieces of plate, and lacquer 
and porcelain furniture, 
which constitute the wealth 
of Japanese households. 
It was pointed out to me one day, amongst 
a collection of curiosities from the work- 
shops of Kioto, that none of the objects had 
a perfectly quadrangular form. I verified 
this in examining a great number of cabinets, 
screens, covers, paper boxes, and other var- 



DOMESTIC LIFE IN JAPAN. 



59 



nished objects, amongst which, in fact, I did 
not discover a single acute angle : all were 
softened and rounded, Supposing that this 
peculiarity is only one of the caprices of 
taste, and therefore not to be disputed, there 
is another fact which may perhaps have a 
symbolical significance : it is, that all Japa- 
nese mirrors, without exception, present the 
figure of a disk. Such uniformity seems to 
confirm the opinion of Siebold, that the mir- 
ror of the temples of the Kamis is an 
emblem of the sun's disk. It would be 
more embarrassing to divine the reasons of 
certain fashions among those of Kioto, if 
indeed fashions ever have a reason. 

Fashions at Court. 

The Court ladies pull out their eyebrows 
and replace them by two thick black patches 
painted half way up the forehead. Is this 
done because these beauties with prominent 
cheek-bones are aware that the oval of their 
faces is not quite so perfect as it might be ; 
or do they endeavor to lengthen it by this 
little feminine trick, which tends to place the 
eyelids, which Nature has put too low, in a 
more suitable position ? 

The amplitude of their rich brocade gar- 
ments leads us to think that at Kioto femi- 
nine luxury is measured by the quantity of 
silk that a Court lady can trail after her. 
But what can be the meaning of those two 
long tails which are seen on the right and 
left below the undulating drapery of the 
mantle? When the lady is walking, they 
obey each cadenced movement of her two 
little invisible feet; and, looked at from a 
distance, she seems to be wearing, not a robe, 
but a pair of long trailing trousers, which 
oblige her to advance on her knees. Such 
is in fact the effect which this costume is in- 
tended to produce. The ladies of the Court 
who are admitted to the presence of the 



Mikado are bound to appear as if they were 
approaching his Sacred Majesty on their 
knees. 

No noise is ever heard in the interior of 
the palace except the rustling of silk on the 
rich carpets with which the mats are covered. 
Bamboo blinds intercept the light of day. 
Screens covered with marvellous paintings, 
damask draperies, velvet hangings, orna- 
mented with knots of plaited silk in which 
artificial birds are framed, form the panels of 
the reception rooms. No article of furni- 
ture of any kind interferes with the elegant 
simplicity : in the corners there is, here, an 
aquarium of porcelain, with shrubs and 
natural flowers ; there, a cabinet encrusted 
with mother-of-pearl, or an elegant table 
laden with numerous poetical anthologies of 
the old Empire, printed upon leaves of gold. 

Maids of Honor. 

The scent of the precious wood, the fine 
mats, and rich stuffs, mixes with the pure air 
which comes in on all sides from the open 
partitions. The young girls on duty in the 
palace bring tea from Oudsji and sweetmeats 
from the refectory of the Empress. This 
personage, called the Kisaki, who proudly 
rules over twelve other legitimate wives of 
the Mikado and a crowd of his concubines, 
squats in proud isolation on the top step of 
the vast dais which rises above the whole. 
The ladies of honor and the women in wait- 
ing squat or kneel behind her at a respectful 
distance, composing groups which have the 
effect of beds of flowers, because each 
group, according to its hierarchical position, 
has its especial costume and its color. 

The folds of the garments of the Empress 
are arranged with such art that they sur- 
round her like a dazzling cloud of gauzy 
crape and brocade ; and three vertical rays 
of gold surmount her diadem like the insignia 



60 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



of a queen of flowers. Her appearance thus 
becomes striking, not to say attractive. 

The guests are ranged in concentric demi- 
circles in front of their sovereign. At a 
gesture from her hand the ladies-in-waiting 
on duty approach, and, prostrating themselves 
before her, receive her orders for the com- 
mencement of the anecdotical conversations 
or literary jousts, which form the diversions 
of her Court. 

The Court of the Kisaki is the academy of 
the floral games of Japan. On the third of 
the third month, all the wits of the Dairi 
collect together in the gardens of the citadel, 
saki circulates, and challenges are exchanged 
between the gentlemen and the noble ladies, 
as to who shall find and paint, upon the 
classic fan of white cedar ornamented with 
ivy leaves, the most poetic stanzas in cele- 
bration of the revival of spring. 

Instruments of Music. 

The Court of the Empress, however, 
admitted other amusements than these liter- 
ary diversions. She had her chapel music, 
composed of stringed instruments, such as 
the violin with three strings ; the Japanese 
mandolin, called the samsin ; a sort of 
violincello, played without a bow, which is 
called a biwa ; and the gotto, a ten-stringed 
instrument, measuring, when laid flat, two 
yards long — the first was made in the year 
300. Notwithstanding the difference in 
dimensions, the gotto reminds us of the 
Tyrolese or Swiss zither. 

Theatrical representations were added to 
music. A corps of young comedians played 
little operas or executed character dances, 
some grave and methodical, in which a long 
tailed mantle was worn; others lively and 
playful, full of fancy, and varied with dis- 
guises, the dancers coming out occasionally 
with the wings of birds or butterflies. In 



addition to this, the ladies of the Dairi 
had their private boxes, not only at the 
imperial theatre, but at the circus of the 
wrestlers and boxers attached to the Court 
of the Mikado in virtue of privileges dating 
from the year 24 B. C. 

They were also permitted to witness cock- 
fighting in the verandahs of their country- 
houses, in strict privacy. A certain class of 
the officers of the Empress's service were 
especially detailed to arrange these barbar- 
ous and ridiculous representations. They 
wore helmets and padded trousers, in which 
they looked like balls. 

Old Customs Still Practical. 

The manners and customs of the Court of 
Kioto are still kept up in our time, with this 
exception, that they no longer exhibit the 
least vestige of artistic or literary life. They 
are mechanically preserved in so far as the 
resources of the treasury permit; and are 
the last traces of the civilization of the old 
Empire. They are concentrated upon one 
single point in Japan, where they remain 
motionless as the old tombs themselves. 

Meanwhile, modern life has invaded the 
cities and the country all around the antique 
Miako. The Tycoon developed civil and 
military institutions in his modern monarchy, 
and already the smoke of the steamers before 
the ports of the Inland Sea announce the 
approach of the Christian civilization of the 
West. 

These circumstances lent a tragic interest 
to the actual situation of the ancient heredi- 
tary and theocratic Emperor of Japan, that 
invisible Mikado of whom one was not 
permitted to speak even while describing his 
Court. But he also has come out of the 
mysterious darkness which surrounds him. 
The force of events has brought him to light 
upon the scene of contemporaneous history. 



CHAPTER IV. 
THE RESIDENCE OF THE SHOGUNS. 



THE environs of Kamakoura are those 
of a great city ; but the great city 
itself exists no longer. Rich vege- 
tation covers the inequalities of the 
soil which has evidently accumulated over 
ruins, overthrown walls, and canals now 
filled up. Antique avenues of trees stretch 
beyond waste groves overgrown with bram- 
bles. These avenues formerly led to palaces, 
of which there is now no trace. In Japan, 
even palaces, being for the most part built of 
wood, leave no ruins after their fall. 

At Kamakoura the Shoguns had estab- 
lished their residence. Shogun was a title 
originally conferred by the Mikado, in other 
words the Emperor, on the military governor 
of the Eastern provinces. The Shoguns are 
known to foreigners by the Chinese name of 
Tycoons. The title was abolished in 1867. 
Under the name of Shoguns we recall the 
generals-in-chief, temporal lieutenants of the 
theocratic Emperor. They governed Japan, 
under the supremacy of the Mikado, from 
the end of the twelfth century to the com- 
mencement of the seventeenth, from Mina- 
moto Yoritomo, who was the founder of 
their power, to Iyeyas, surnamed Gonghen- 
sama, the thirty-second Shogun who made 
Yeddo (now Tokio) the political capital of 
Japan, and created a new dynasty, whose 
last representatives adopted the title of 
Tycoon A.D. 1854. 

Yoritomo, born of a princely family, was 
indebted to his education by an ambitious 
mother for the qualities which made him the 
ruler and real chief of the Empire. He was 



brought up at the Court of Kioto, and early 
appreciated the condition of weakness into 
which the power of the Da'iri had fallen. 
The Mikado, shut up in his seraglio, occupied 
himself with nothing but palace intrigues. 
The courtiers were given up to idleness, or 
plunged in dissipation. The old families, 
who were brought into communication with 
the Emperor either by kinship, alliance, or 
official rank, thought only of serving the 
interests of themselves and their children at 
court. They endeavored to procure high 
dignities for their eldest sons, and put the 
younger into holy orders. 

Chosen From Eighty Ladies. 

As for the girls, rather than send them 
into convents, they applied for their admis- 
sion into the ranks of the Empress's fifty 
ladies of honor, who were all obliged to take 
vows of chastity. The ambition of the 
matrons of high degree was perfectly satis- 
fied by the puerile ceremonies which accom- 
panied the birth of the heir-presumptive, 
and the nomination of its nurse, who was 
chosen among the eighty ladies of the old 
feudal nobility best qualified to fulfil this 
eminent function. 

While things were going on thus at Kioto, 
the Daimios, that is, the old territorial gov- 
ernors, who lived in retirement in their pro- 
vinces, became by degrees less and less 
faithful in the maintenance of the obligations 
which they had contracted with the crown. 
Some arrogated to themselves absolute 
power in the government of their Imperial 

61 



62 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



fiefs ; others aggrandized their domains at 
the expense of their neighbors. Family- 
wars, acts of vengeance and reprisal, stained 
the rustic fortresses of the principal dynasties 
of Japan with blood for many years: Anarchy 
was gaining ground by degrees. Yoritomo, 
whose family had suffered much from these 
troubles, obtained a superior command from 



the nation and its ruler. This matter was 
taken into serious account. 

Yoritomo created a standing army, per- 
fected the art of encampment, utilized them 
to discipline his soldiers, and neglected noth- 
ing to make them discard the habits of 
domestic life. It is to him, for example, 
that Japan owes the official organization of 




YORITOMO INVESTED WITH THE TITLE OF SHOGUN. 



the Mikado after vicissitudes, and was in- 
vested with extensive power that he might 
establish order in the Empire. At this epoch 
the Mikado, as well as the armor-bearing 
nobles, had no other troops than the terri- 
torial militia. At the close of an expedi- 
tion the men returned to their homes. 

But the exigencies of the times w ° such 
that a military force was the only safety of 



the most shameful of occupations, which has 
been, ever since his time, a social institution 
regulated by the government. 

Yoritomo succeeded in his designs. He 
subjugated the Daimios, who had attempted 
to render themselves independent, and forced 
them to take an oath of fidelity and homage 
to him in his quality of lieutenant of the 
Mikado. Some of them refusing to recog- 



THE RESIDENCE OF THE SHOGUNS. 



63 



nize him under this title, he exterminated 
them, with their entire families, and confis- 
cated the whole of their property. More 
than once, when exasperated by the unex- 
pected resistance, he inflicted the most cruel 
tortures on his enemies. 

On the other hand, he incessantly carried 
on intrigues, by means of agents, in the 
Dairi. He had commenced his career under 
the seventy-sixth Mikado — he finished it 
under the eighty-third. Each Emperor who 
opposed him had been obliged to abdicate : 
one of them took the tonsure and retired 
into a cloister. 

9 A Divided Empire. 

It was only under the eighty-second 
Mikado that Yoritomo was officially invested 
with the title of Shogun. He had exercised 
his functions during twenty years. His son 
succeeded him. There were thenceforth two 
distinct Courts in the Empire of Japan ; that 
of the Mikado at Kioto, and that of the 
Shogun at Kamakoura. 

In the beginning, the new power was not 
hereditary. It happened sometimes that the 
sons of the Mikados were invested with it. 
Far from taking umbrage at what was tak- 
ing place at Kamakoura, the sacerdotal and 
literary Court of Kioto found a subject of 
jest in it ; now amusing themselves with the 
airs of the wife of the Shogun, the bad 
taste which the Secondary Courts showed in 
dress, the trivial performances of the actor ; 
the awkwardness of the dancers ; and again 
laughing at the gaudiness of the military 
uniforms, which Yoritomo had brought into 
fashion, or at the vulgarity of speech and 
manners of those new-blown grandees who 
gave themselves airs as restorers of the 
pontifical throne and saviours of the Empire. 

An unforeseen circumstance arose which 
gave sudden importance to the Court of 



Kamakoura, and concentrated upon it the 
attention and sympathy of the nation. 

In the twelfth month of the year 1268, a 
Mongol embassy landed at Japan. It came 
in the name of Koublai-Khan who, worthy 
descendent of the Tartar conquerors, was 
destined twelve years later to take possession 
of China ; he fixed his residence at Pekin 
and founded the Yuen dynasty, under which 
the great canal was constructed. This is the 
same sovereign who kept at his Court the 
Venetian Marco Polo, the first traveller who 
furnished Europe with exact notions respect- 
ing China and Japan. His narratives, it is 
said, exercised so decided an influence upon 
Christopher Columbus, that the discovery of 
America is in a sense due to them. 

Important Message. 
Koublai-Khan wrote to the Emperor of 
Niphon : " I am the head of a state formerly 
without importance. Now the cities and 
countries which recognize my power are 
numberless. I am endeavoring to establish 
good relations with the princes my neigh- 
bors. I have put an end to the hostilities of 
which the land of Kaoli was the scene. 
The chief of that little kingdom has pre- 
sented himself at my Court to declare his 
gratitude. I have treated him as a father 
treats his child. I will not act otherwise 
towards the princes of Niphon. No embassy 
has, as yet, come from your Court to confer 
with me. I fear that in your country the 
true state of things is unknown. I therefore 
send you this letter by delegates, who will 
inform you of my intentions. The wise man 
has said that the world should consist only 
of one family. But if amicable relations be 
not kept up, how shall that principle be 
realized ? For my part, I have decided 
upon pursuing its execution, even should I 
be obliged to resort to arms. Now, it is the 



64 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



duty of the sovereign of Niphon to consider 
what it will suit him to do." 

The Mikado announced his intention of 
replying favorably to the overtures of 
Koublai-Khan. The Shogun, on the con- 
trary, declared himself hostile to an alliance 



vainly proposed that a meeting of the dele- 
gates of the two Empires should take place 
on the island of Isousima, in the Straits of 
Corea. In 1271 a new missive on his part 
remained unanswered. In 1273 he sent two 
ambassadors to Kamakoura, and the Shogun 




JAPANESE IDOL AND TEMPLE. 



with the hordes of the Mongols. He con- 
voked an assembly of the Daimios at Kama- 
koura, submitted his objections to them, and 
enrolled them on his side. The embassy 
was dismissed with evasive words. 

In the following year the Mongol chief 



had them sent back. These efforts failed to 
accomplish the desired result. 

A short time afterwards he was informed 
that two generals of Koublai-Khan were 
about to attack Japan at the head of an ex- 
pedition of three hundred large war-junks, 



THE RESIDENCE OF THE SHOGUNS. 



65 



three hundred swift sailing-ships, and three 
hundred transport-barks. The Mikado 
ordered public prayers and processions to 
the principle temples of the Kamis. The 
Shogun organized the national defence. At 
every point on the coasts of Isousima and 
Kiousiou where the Mongols attempted to 
effect a descent, they were repulsed and 
beaten. 

Their Khan endeavored vainly to renew 
the negotiations. Two ambassadors whom 
he sent to the Shogun in 1 275, were immedi- 
ately turned out. The third, having pre- 
sented himself in 1279, was beheaded. 

An Immense Fleet. 

Then, if we are to believe the annals of 
Japan, that country was menaced by the 
most formidable expedition which had ever 
sailed upon the seas of the far East. The 
Mongol fleet numbered four thousand sail, 
and carried an army of two hundred and 
forty thousand men. It was descending 
upon Firado towards the entrance of the 
inland sea when it was dispersed by a 
typhoon and dashed upon the coast. All 
who did not perish in the waves fell under 
the swords of the Japanese, who spared only 
three prisoners, whom they sent back to the 
other side of the strait to carry the news. 

After the occurrence of these events, it was 
no longer possible to regard the Shoguns as 
simple functionaries of the Crown, or even as 
the official protectors of the Mikado. The 
entire nation owed its safety to them. From 
that moment the Court of Kioto had a rival 
in that of Kamakoura, which must speedily 
eclipse it and supplant it in the management 
of the affairs of the Empire. 

At the present time we find at Kamakoura 

the Pantheon of the glories of Japan. It is 

composed of a majestic collection of sacred 

buildings which have always been spared by 

Ja.— 5 



the fury of civil war. They are placed under 
the invocation of Hatchiman, one of the great 
national Kamis. Hatchiman belongs to the 
heroic period of the Empire of the Mikados. 
His mother was the Empress Zingou, who 
effected the conquest of the three kingdoms 
of Corea, and to whom Divine honors are 
rendered. 

Each year, on the ninth day of the ninth 
month, a solemn procession to the tomb 
which is consecrated to her at Fousimi, in 
the country of Yamasiro, commemorates her 
glorious deeds. Zingou herself surnamed 
her son Fatsman, " the eight banners," in 
consequence of a sign which appeared in the 
heavens at the birth of a child. Thanks to 
the education which she gave him, she made 
him the bravest of her soldiers and the most 
skilful of her generals. When she had 
attained the age of one hundred years she 
transmitted the sceptre and crown of the 
Mikados to her son, in the year 270 of our 
era. He was then seventy-one years old. 

Long and Brilliant Reign. 

Under the name of Woozin he reigned 
gloriously for forty-three years, and was 
raised, after his death, to the rank of a 
protecting genius of the Empire. He is 
especially revered as the patron of soldiers. 
In the annual fetes dedicated to him, Japan 
celebrates the memory of the heroes who 
have died for their country. The popular 
processions which take place on this occasion 
revive the ancient pomps of Kami worship. 
Even the horses formerly destined for sacri- 
fice are among the cortege ; but instead of 
being immolated, they are turned loose on 
the race-course. 

Most of the great cities of Japan possess a 
Temple of Hatchiman. That of Kamakoura 
is distinguished above all the others by the 
trophies which it contains. Two vast build- 



66 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



ings are required for the display of this 
national wealth. There, it is said, are pre- 
served the spoils of the Corean and the 
Mongol invasions, also objects taken from 
the Portuguese Colonies and the Christian 
communities of Japan at the epoch when the 
Portugese were expelled, and the Japanese 
Christians were exterminated by order of the 
Shoguns. 

No European has ever yet been permitted 
to view the trophies of Kamakoura. While 
all European states like to display the treas- 
ures which they have respectively seized or 
won in their frontier and dynastic wars, 
Japan hides all monuments of its military 
glory from foreigners. They are kept in 
reserve, like a family treasure, in venerable 
sanctuaries, to which no profane feet ever 
find access. 

A Grand Avenue. 

The Temples of Hatchiman are approached 
by long lines of the those great cedar-trees 
which form the avenues to all places of wor- 
ship in Japan. As we advance along the 
avenue on the Kanasawa side, chapels multi- 
ply themselves along the road, and to the 
left, upon the sacred hills, we also come in 
sight • of the oratories and commemorative 
stones which mark the stations of the pro- 
cessions ; on the right the horizon is closed 
by the mountain, with its grottos, its streams, 
and its pine groves. After we have crossed 
the river by a fine wooden bridge, we find 
ourselves suddenly at the entrance of another 
alley, which leads from the sea-side, and 
occupies a large street. This is the principal 
avenue, intersected by three gigantic toris, 
and it opens on the grand square in front of 
the chief staircase of the main buildings of 
the Temple. . 

The precinct of the sacred place extends 
into the street, and is surrounded on three 



sides by a low wall of solid masonry, sur- 
mounted by a barrier of wood painted red 
and black. Two steps lead to the first level. 
There is nothing to be seen there but the 
houses of the bonzes, arranged like the side- 
scenes of a theatre, amid trees planted along 
the barrier-wall, with two great oval ponds 
occupying the centre of the square. They 
are connected with each other by a large 
canal crossed by two parallel bridges, each 
equally remarkable in its way. 

Attractive Spectacle. 

That on the right is of white granite, and 
it describes an almost perfect semicircle, so 
that when one sees it for the first time one 
supposes that it is intended for some sort of 
geometrical exercise ; but I suppose that it is 
in reality a bridge of honor, reserved for the 
gods and the good genii who come to visit 
the Temple. 

The bridge on the left is quite flat, con- 
structed of wood covered with red lacquer, 
with balusters and other ornaments in old 
polished copper. The pond crossed by the 
stone bridge is covered with magnificent 
white lotus flowers, — the pond crossed by 
the wooden bridge with red lotus flowers. 
Among the leaves of the flowers we saw 
numbers of fish, some red and others like 
mother of pearl, with glittering fins, swim- 
ming about in water of crystal clearness. 
The black tortoise glides among the great 
water-plants and clings to their stems. 

After having thoroughly enjoyed this most 
attractive spectacle, we go on towards the 
second enclosure. It is raised a few steps 
higher than the first, and, as it is protected 
by an additional sanctity, it is only to be 
approached through the gate of the divine 
guardians of the sanctuary. This building, 
which stands opposite the bridges, contains 
two monstrous idols, placed side by side in 



THE RESIDENCE OF THE SHOGUNS. 



67 



the centre of the edifice. They are sculp- 
tured in wood, and are covered from head 
to foot with a thick coating of vermilion. 
Their grinning faces and their enormous 
busts are spotted all over with innumerable 
pieces of chewed paper, which the native 
visitors throw at them when passing, with- 
out any more formalty than would be used 
by a number of schoolboys out for a holi- 
day. 

Nevertheless, it is considered a very serious 
act on the part of pilgrims. It is the means 
by which they make the prayer written on 
the sheet of chewed paper reach its address, 
and when they wish to recommend anything 
to the gods very strongly, indeed, they bring 
as an offering a pair of straw slippers plaited 
with regard to the size of the feet of the 
Colossus, and hang them on the iron rail- 
ings within which the statues are enclosed. 
Articles of this kind, suspended by thou- 
sands to the bars, remain there until they 
fall away in time, and it may be supposed 
that this curious ornamentation is anything 
but beautiful. 

He Shook His Head. 
Here a lay brother of the bonzes ap- 
proached us, and his interested views were 
easily enough detected by his bearing. We 
hastened to assure him that we required 
nothing from his good offices, except access 
to an enclosed building. With a shake of 
his head, so as to make us understand that 
we were asking for an impossibility, he simply 
set himself to follow us about with the me- 
chanical precision of a subaltern. He was 
quite superfluous, but we did not allow his 
presence to interfere with our admiration. A 
high terrace, reached by a long stone stair- 
case, surmounted the second enclosure. It 
is sustained by a Cyclopean wall, and in its 
turn supports the principal Temple as well 



as the habitations of the bonzes which are 
placed adjoining. 

The grey roofs of all these different build- 
ings stand out against the sombre forest of 
cedars and pines. On our left are the build- 
ings of the Treasury ; one of them has a 
pyramidal roof surmounted by a turret of 
bronze most elegantly worked. At the foot 
of the great terrace is the Chapel of the 
Ablutions. On our right stands a tall 
pagoda, constructed on the principle of the 
Chinese pagodas, but in a more sober and 
severe style. 

Unique Building. 

The first stage, of a quadrangular form, is 
supported by pillars ; the second stage con- 
sists of a vast circular gallery, which, though 
extremely massive, seems to rest simply upon 
a pivot. A painted roof, terminated by a 
tall spire of cast bronze, embellished with 
pendants of the same metal, completes the 
effect of this strange but exquisitely propor- 
tioned building. 

All the doors of the buildings which I have 
enumerated are in good taste. The fine pro- 
portions, the rich brown coloring of the 
wood, which is almost the only material em- 
ployed in their construction, is enhanced by 
a few touches of red and dragon green, and 
the effect of the whole is perfect ; — add to 
the picture a frame of ancient trees and the 
extreme brilliancy of the sky, for the atmos- 
phere of Japan is the most transparent in 
the world. 

We went beyond the pagoda to visit a 
bell-tower, where we were shown a large 
bell beautifully engraved, and an oratory on 
each side containing three golden images, a 
large one in the centre, and two small ones 
at either side. Each was surrounded by a 
nimbus. This beautiful Temple of Hatchi- 
man is consecrated to a Kami; but it is 



68 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



quite evident that the religious customs of 
India have supplanted the ancient worship ; 
we had several proofs of this fact. 

When we were about to turn back we 
were solicited by the lay brother to go with 
him a little further. We complied, and he 
stopped us under a tree laden with offerings 
at the foot of which stands a block of stone, 
surrounded by a barrier. This stone, which 
is probably indebted to the chisels of the 
bonzes for its peculiar form, is venerated by 
the multitude, and largely endowed with 
voluntary offerings. Like the peoples of the 
extreme East the Japanese are very super- 
stitious ; a fact of which we had abundant 
evidence on this and other occasions. 

Image of the God of Wealth. 

The Temple towards which we directed 
our steps on leaving the avenue of the 
Temple of Hatchiman, immediately diverted 
our thoughts from the grandeur of this 
picture. It is admirably situated on the 
summit of a promontory, whence we over- 
look the whole Bay of Kamakoura ; but it 
is always sad to come, in the midst of beau- 
tiful nature, upon a so-called holy place 
which inspires nothing bui; disgust. The 
principal sanctuary, at first sight, did not 
strike us as remarkable. Insignificant 
golden idols stand upon the high altar ; and 
in a side chapel there is an image of the God 
of Wealth, armed with a miner's hammer. 

But when the bonzes who received us 
conducted us behind the high altar, and 
thence into a sort of cage as dark as a 
prison and as high as a tower, they lighted 
two lanterns, and stuck them at the end of a 
long pole. Then, by this glimmering light, 
which entirely failed to disperse the shades 
of the roof, we perceived that we were stand- 
ing in front of an enormous idol of gilt wood, 
about twelve yards high, holding in its right 



hand a sceptre, in its left a lotus, and wearing 
a tiara composed of three rows of heads, 
representing the inferior divinities. 

This gigantic idol belongs to the religion 
of the auxiliary gods of the Budd'.iist my- 
thology: the Amidas and the Quannons, 
intercessors who collect the prayers of men 
and transmit them to heaven. By means of 
similar religious conceptions, the bonzes 
strike a superstitious terror into the imagina- 
tions of their followers, and succeed in keep- 
ing them in a state of perpetual fear and 
folly. 

We then went to see the Da'iboudhs, 
which is the wonder of Kamakoura. This 
building is dedicated to the Da'iboudhs, that 
is to say, to the great Buddha, and may be 
regarded as the most finished work of Japa- 
nese genius, from the double points of view 
of art and religious sentiment. The Temple 
of Hatchiman had already given us a re- 
markable example of the use which native 
art makes of nature in producing that im- 
pression of religious majesty which in our 
northern climates is effected by Gothic archi- 
tecture. 

Temple of Buddha. 
The Temple of Da'iboudhs differs con- 
siderably from the first which we had seen. 
Instead of the great dimensions, instead of 
the illimitable space which seemed to stretch 
from portal to portal down to the sea, a soli- 
tary and mysterious retreat prepares the 
mind for some supernatural revelation. The 
road leads far away from every habitation ; 
in the direction of the mountain it winds 
about between hedges of tall shrubs. 
Finally, we see nothing before us but the 
high road, going up and up in the midst of 
foliage and flowers ; then it turns in a totally 
different direction, and all of a sudden, at 
the end of the alley, we perceive a gigantic 



THE RESIDENCE OF THE SHOGUNS. 



69 



brazen Divinity, squatting with joined hands, 
and the head slightly bent forward, in an 
attitude of contemplative ecstasy. 

The involuntary amazement produced by 
the aspect of this great image soon gives 
place to admiration. There is an irresistible 
charm in the attitude of the Daiboudhs, as 
well as in the harmony of its proportions. 
The noble simplicity of its garments and the 
calm purity of its features are in perfect 
accord with the sentiment of serenity in- 
spired by its presence. A grove, consisting 
of some beautiful groups of trees, forms the 
enclosure of the sacred place, whose silence 
and solitude are never disturbed. The small 
cell of the attendant priest can hardly be 
discerned amongst the foliage. 

Beautiful Altar. 

The altar, on which a little incense is 
burning at the feet of the Divinity, is com- 
posed of a small brass table ornamented by 
two lotus vases of the same metal, and 
beautifully wrought. The steps of the altar 
are composed of large slabs forming regular 
lines. The blue of the sky, the deep shadow 
of the statue, the sombre color of the brass, 
the brilliancy of the flowers, the varied ver- 
dure of the hedges and the groves, fill this 
solemn retreat with the richest effect of light 
and color. The idol of the Daiboudhs, with 
the platform which supports it, is twenty 
yards high; it is far from equal in elevation 
to the statue of St. Charles Borromeo, which 
may be seen from Arona on the borders of 
Lake Maggiore, but which affects the spec- 
tator no more than a trigometrical signal- 
post. 

The interiors of these two colossal statues 
have been utilized. The European tourists 
seat themselves in the nose of the holy car- 
dinal. The Japanese descend by a secret 
staircase into the foundations of their Dai- 



boudhs, and there they find a peaceful 
oratory, whose altar is lighted by a ray oi 
sunshine admitted through an opening in the 
folds of the mantle at the back of the idol's 
neck. It would be idle to discuss to what 
extent the Buddha of Kamakoura resembles 
the Buddha of history, but it is important to 
remark that he is conformable to the Buddha 
of tradition. 

The Buddhists have made one authentic 
and sacramental image of the founder of their 
religion, covered with characters carefully 
numbered, with thirty-two principal signs 
and eighty secondary marks, so that it may 
be transmitted to future ages in all its in- 
tegrity. The Japanese idol conforms in all 
essential respects to this established type oi 
the great Hindoo reformer. It scrupulously 
reproduces the meditative attitudes ; thus -it 
was that the sage joined his hands, the 
fingers straightened, and thumb resting 
against thumb ; thus he squatted, the legs 
bent and gathered up one over the other, 
the right foot lying upon the left knee. 

Features of the Idol. 

The broad smooth brow is also to be 
recognized, and the hair forming a multitude 
of short curls. Even the singular protuber- 
ance of the skull, which slightly disfigures 
the top of the head, exists in the statue, and 
also a tuft of white hairs between the eye- 
brows, indicated by a little rounded excre- 
scence in the metal. 

All these marks, however, do not consti- 
tute the physiognomy, the expression of the 
personage. In this respect the Daiboudhs 
of Kamakoura has nothing in common with 
the fantastic dolls which are worshipped in 
China under the name of Buddhas, and the 
fact appears worthy of notice, because Bud- 
dhism was introduced into Japan from China. 

The first effect of Buddhist preaching in 



70 

Japan must have been to arouse curiosity 
among the islanders, who are as inquisitive 
and restless as the Hindoos are taciturn and 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 

which are only making their first voyage of 
discovery in the regions of metaphysics ! As 
they did not feel any impatience to f lunge 




BAPTISM OF BUDDHA. 



contemplative, and wish to have a reason for 
for every thing. 

What a vast field of exploration for minds 



into Nirwana, they were chiefly interested in 
finding out what was to come to pass be- 
tween the death and the final extinction. 



THE RESIDENCE OF THE SHOGUNS. 



71 



With the assistance of the bonzes, a certain 
number of accepted ideas about the soul, 
death, and the life to come, were put in cir- 
culation in the towns and in the villages, 
without prejudice, it must be understood, to 
all that had been taught by ancestral wisdom 
concerning the ancient gods and the vener- 
able national Kamis. 

The soul of man, it was said, was like a 
floating vapor, indissoluble, having the form 
of a tiny worm, and a thin thread of blood 
which runs from the top of the head to the 
extremity of the tail. If it were closely 
observed it might be seen to escape from the 
house of death, at the moment when the 
dying person heaves his last sigh. At all 
times, the cracking of the panel may be 
heard as the soul passes through it. 

The Wonderful Mirror. 

Whither does it go ? No one knows ; but 
it cannot fail to be received by the minister- 
ing servants of the great j udge of hell. They 
bring it before his tribunal, and the judge 
causes it to kneel before a mirror, in which 
it beholds all the evil of which it has been 
guilty. This is a phenomenon which is 
occasionally produced upon the earth : a 
comedian in Yeddo, who had committed a 
murder, could not look into his mirror with- 
out his gaze being met by the livid face of 
his victim. 

Souls, laden with crime, wander in one or 
other of the eighteen concentric circles of 
hell, according to the gravity of their of- 
fences. Souls in process of purification 
sojourn in a purgatory whose lid they may 
lift up when they can do so without fear of 
falling, and resume the progressive course of 
their pilgrimage. 

In the case of a woman who, being de- 
serted, drowned herself with her child, she 
is popularly believed to present herself before 



all wayfarers by the side of the marsh, hold- 
ing up the infant, in protest against her be- 
trayers as the real author of her crime. 
Finally, there are souls who return to the 
places which they inhabited, or to the rest- 
nig-place of their mortal remains. 

Ghosts and Demons. 

Ghost stories, terrible tales, books illus- 
trated by pictures representing hell or 
apparitions of demons, have multiplied in 
Japan with such profusion, that the popular 
imagination is completely possessed by them. 
The patron of literature of this kind, accord- 
ing to the national mythology, is Tengou, 
the god of dreams, a burlesque winged 
genius, whose head-dress is an extinguisher 
with a golden handle. He leads the noc- 
turnal revelry of all the objects, sacred or 
profane, which can fill the imagination of 
man. The refuge of death itself is not closed 
against him. The candelabra bend their 
heads, pierced with luminous holes, with a 
measured motion. The stone tortoises which 
bear the epitaphs move in a grim, orderly 
march, and grinning skeletons, clad in their 
shrouds, join the fantastic measure, waving 
about them the holy-water brush which drives 
away evil spirits. 

In spite of some difference in style, and of 
its exceptional dimensions, the noble Japan- 
ese statue is the fellow of those of which 
great numbers are to be seen in the islands 
of Java and Ceylon ; those sacred refuges 
which were opened to Buddhism when it was 
expelled from India. There the type of the 
hero of Contemplation is preserved most 
religiously, and appears under its most 
exquisite form, in marvellous images of 
basalt, granite, and clay, generally above the 
human stature. 

This type, for the most part conventional, 
although perfectly authentic in the eyes of 



72 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



faith, is, especially for the Cingalese priests, 
who are devoted to the art of statuary, the 
unique subject of the indefatigable labor by 
which they strive to realize ideal perfection. 
They have in fact produced work of such 
purity as has hardly been surpassed by the 
Madonnas of Raphael. 

Japan has inherited somewhat of the lofty 
tradition of the Buddhist Isles. Apostles 
from those distant shores have probably 
visited it. On the other hand, it has suf- 
fered to an extreme degree, and under the 
influence of its nearest neighbors, all the 
fatal consequences of the doctrine of the 
master himself, and especially the monstrous 
vagaries of his disciples. It would be an 
unprofitable task to undertake to trace the 
pure and abstract doctrine of the founder of 
the " Good Tao " in Japanese Buddhism. 
The Proteus of Greek fable, he adds, is not 
less intangible than the Good Tao in its 
metamorphoses among the various peoples 
of Asia and the Far East. 

Good Sense Recommended. 

Every sort of modification and addition is 
justified beforehand by the following adage, 
which seems to have been the watchword of 
the missionaries of Buddhism : " Everything 
that agrees with good sense and circum- 
stances agrees with truth, and ought to 
serve as a rule." The Temples of Kama- 
koura furnish many examples in support 
of this observation. 

The civil wars which brought about the 
ruin of Kamakoura had few points of interest 
in themselves. From the fourteenth to the 
sixteenth century, the Empire of Japan pre- 
sented a spectacle of increasing anarchy, 
which threatened the work of political cen- 
tralization which had been inaugurated by 
Yoritomo. 

A domestic quarrel arose within the Da'iri 



itself, which forced the legitimate sovereign 
to yield Kioto to his competitor; and, during 
nearly sixty years, six Mikados successively 
occupied the pontificial throne, by usurpa- 
tion, while the real descendents of the Sun 
had to submit to holding their Court at 
Yosimo, a small borough situated on the 
south of the capital, in the province of 
Yomato. At length a family arrangement 
put an end to this public scandal ; and the 
hundred and first Mikado, He of the South, 
resumed possession of his holy city, and 
solemnly revived the fiction of his theocratic 
sovereignty. 

Scenes of Blood. 

On the other hand, the power of the Sho- 
gun.. was the object of strenuous rivalries, 
which carried fire and sword through Kioto 
and Kamakoura by turns, and did not shrink 
even from fratricide. The feudal nobles took 
advantage of the general confusion to make 
one more attempt to break through their 
vassalage to the crown or its lieutenants. 

When, in the year 1582, the Shogun 
Nobounanga was surprised and massacred, 
with his entire family, in his own palace, the 
Empire seemed to be on the brink of disso- 
lution. It was saved by an adventurer, the 
son of a peasant, who had begun life as a 
groom in the service of the Shogun. His 
grave and taciturn demeanor, matured by 
the vicissitudes of a vagabond youth, attracted 
the attention of his new master. He was 
frequently observed squatting in the attitude 
of persons of his class, near the stalls in 
which the horses in his charge stood, his 
arms stretched out on his knees, and his 
mind plunged in deep reverie. 

Nobounanga offered him a military career. 
The ex-groom, become General Faxiba, dis- 
tinguished himself by brilliant deeds, for 
which he was raised to the rank of Daimio. 



THE RESIDENCE OF THE SHOGUNS. 



73 



On the death of his benefactor, he undertook 
to avenge him, and he commanded, under 
the name of Fide-Yosi, the troops which 
were sent into the provinces of the great 
vassals who had revolted. Two years suf- 
ficed for the suppression of the rebellion. 
His return to Kioto was a genuine triumph. 
The Mikado solemnly invested him with the 
chief title of the Da'iri — that of Quamboukou, 
and proclaimed him his lieutenant-general. 

Then Fide-Yosi carried his sword into 
another scene of strife. Every one of the 
thousand divinities of the Buddhist myth- 
ology had taken his place in Japan. There 
they had temples, statues, monastic frater- 
nities. Bonzes, monks, nuns, abounded 
throughout the Empire, and principally in 
the centre and south of Niphon. Each con- 
vent vied with its neighbors for the public 
favor. 

Furious Conflicts. 

By degrees the competition became so 
vehement, that jealousy, hatred, and envy 
embittered the mutual relations of certain 
powerful and ambitious orders. From in- 
vective ■ they proceeded to violence. The 
Imperial police interfered in the earlier con- 
flicts of the tonsured foes, but they were soon 
powerless to oppose the torrent. Bands of 
furious men in soutanes and habits, armed 
with sticks, pikes and flails, came down in 
the night upon the territory of the fraternity 
with whom they were at variance; ravaged 
everything that came in their way ; ill- 
treated, killed or dispersed the victims of 
their surprise, and did not retire until they 
had set fire to the four quarters of the bonze- 
house. 

But the aggressors, sooner or later, in their 
turn assailed unawares, underwent similar 
treatment. Six times, in the course of the 
twelfth century, the monks of the convent on 



the Ye'isan burned the bonze-house of Djen- 
sjoi; twice the monks of Djensjosi burned 
the convent of Ye'isan to ashes. 

Similar scenes were enacted in various 
parts of Niphon. In order to protect their 
convents from a sudden attack, rich priors 
converted themselves into fortresses. Their 
audacity increased with the incapacity of the 
Government. Inimical fraternities had armed 
encounters under the very walls of the tem- 
ples which they possessed in the capitals. 

Damage by Fire. 

A portion of the Da'iri was sacked, in 
1283, after one of these encounters. A 
temple in Kioto having been fired in 1536, 
the flames spread to an adjacent quarter, and 
immense damage was done. The efforts of 
the Shogun Nebounanga to reduce the in- 
surgent fraternity to submission were ren- 
dered fruitless by the entrenchments from 
behind which they opposed him. 

Fide-Yosi resolved to make an end, once 
for all, of the quarrels of the monks. He 
surprised, captured and occupied the most 
militant bonze-houses, demolished their de- 
fences, transported all the monks who had 
broken the public peace to distant islands, 
and placed the whole of the Japanese clergy, 
without distinction, under the superinten- 
dence of an active, severe and inexorable 
police. He enacted that thenceforth the 
bonzes should enjoy only the usufruct of 
their lands, the property in them being trans- 
ferred to the Government, with full and free 
power of disposal of them. 

Then he ordered all the dignitaries among 
the clergy, both regular and secular, to limit 
themselves strictly, together with their sub- 
ordinates, to their religious functions. From 
this law the Japanese priesthood has never 
since departed. They officiate at the altar 
in the interior of their bonze-houses, under 



74 



the eyes of the people, in a sanctuary which 
is separated by a partition from the crowd ; 
but they never address the people otherwise 
than by preaching, and only on the holydays 
especially set apart for the purpose. 

They were forbidden to organize proces- 
sions except at certain periods of the year, 
and with the co-operation of the Govern- 
ment officials charged with the ordering of 
public ceremonies. 

Their pastoral duties were restricted to 
the narrowest limits, and have never been 
enlarged. The bonzes are charged with the 
accomplishment of the sacramental cere- 
monies with which all sects in Japan sur- 
round the last moments of the dying. They 
conduct the funerals, and provide, according 
to the wishes of the relations of the de- 
ceased, for the burial or the burning of the 
corpse, and for the consecration and preser- 
vation of his tomb. 

Barbarous Punishment. 

But, in proportion as they reign over the 
domain of death, they are vigilantly watched 
and restrained in all their relations with so- 
ciety and the business of life. Most of the 
secular priests are married, and hold familiar 
intercourse with a small circle of friends and 
neighbors ; but they are all the more sternly 
dealt with if they give any offence in conse- 
quence. 

I saw, in the chief market-place at Yoko- 
hama, an aged bonze, who had been exposed 
there for three consecutive days, on his 
knees, on an old mat, under the burning 
sun. The poor wretch endeavored occa- 
sionally to wipe the sweat from his bald 
head with a little crape handkerchief. A 
placard, stuck in the ground in front of him, 
apprized the public that this man had prac- 
tised medicine clandestinely, and had crimin- 
ally assaulted one of his female patients, and 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 

therefore the justice of the Tycoon had con- 
demned him to transportation for life after 
public exposure. 

In 1856, a short time after Fide-Yosi had 
put an end to the monastic troubles of the 
Empire, strange news caused public attention 
to fix itself upon the island of Kiousiou. At 
this time the trade of Japan with the Asiastic 
continent and archipelagoes was not in any 
way shackled. The Prince of Boungo, who, 
forty years previously, had received the 
Portuguese adventurers flung upon the 
coasts of his province by a tempest, had 
hastened to furnish them with the means of 
returning to Goa, and had begged them to 
send him every year a ship laden with mer- 
chandise suitable for the native markets. 



First Jesuit Mission. 

Thus relations between Portugal and 
Japan were founded and developed. On one 
of its first voyages, the Portuguese ship, at 
the moment of setting sail for Goa, secretly 
gavv. asylum to a Japanese gentleman named 
Hansiro, who had committed a homicide. 
The illustrious Jesuit, Francis Xavier, who 
had recently disembarked at Goa, undertook 
the religious instruction of the Japanese fugi- 
tive, and administered baptism to him. In 
1 549, the first Jesuit mission was established 
in the island of Kiousiou, under the direc- 
tion of Saint Francis Xavier himself, and 
with the assistance of Hansiro. 

The missionaries were at first astonished 
and terrified at finding in Japan so many 
institutions, ceremonies, and objects of wor- 
ship closely resembling those which they 
had come thither to introduce. Taking no 
heed of the immense antiquity of Buddhism, 
they declared that the religion could be 
nothing less than a diabolical counterfeit 
of the true Church. Nevertheless, they 
were not slow to perceive that they might 



THE RESIDENCE OF THE SHOGUNS. 



T5 



turn that circumstance to the advantage of 
their propaganda. Nothing in the doctrine 
of Buddhism was opposed to the admission 
of Jesus among the number of the Buddhas 
who, in the course of ages, have appeared 
upon earth. 

Nor was there any insurmountable diffi- 
culty in giving the Virgin pre-eminence over 
the queens of heaven in the ancient Pan- 
theon. In a word, the ruling creed at least 
furnished certain useful points of contact, 
and all sorts of pretexts and good opportu- 
nities for introducing the matter. This first 
mission had a prodigious success, and there 
is ample room for believing that, thanks to 
the apostolic zeal and persuasive power of 
Saint Francis Xavier, numerous and sincere 
conversions to Christianity took place in all 
classes of Japanese society. 

Power of the Triple Crown. 

Several high dignitaries of Buddhism were 
filled with uneasiness about the future of 
their religion, and carried their complaints 
and remonstrances to the foot of the throne. 
" How many sects," asked the Mikado, "do 
you estimate as existing in my dominions?" 

"Thirty-five," was the prompt reply. 

" Very well, then, that will make the thirty- 
sixth," replied the jovial Emperor. 

The Shogun Fide-Yosi regarded the ques- 
tion from another point of view. Struck by 
the fact that the foreign missionaries applied 
themselves not only to spread their doctrines 
among the people, but to gain the favor of 
the great vassals of the Empire, and that the 
anarchical tendencies of the latter were mys- 
teriously fostered by their relations with these 
priests, he discovered that they were com- 
missioned by a sovereign pontiff who wore a 
triple crown, and who could, at his free will 
and pleasure, dispossess the greatest princes, 
distribute the kingdoms of Europe among 



his favorites, and even dispose of newly-dis- 
covered continents. 

He reflected that the emissaries of this 
redoubtable ruler of the West had already 
formed a party in the coast of the Mikado, 
and had founded a house in his capital; that 
the former Shogun Nobounanga had openly 
protected and befriended them; and that 
there was reason to believe that he, the 
Shogun in place and power, was actually 
surrounded in his own palace by dark in- 
trigues in the household of his young son 
and heir presumptive. 

Severe Measures. 

Fide-Yosi communicated his observations 
and his fears to an experienced servant whom 
he had already charged with several delicate 
missions. The dark and subtle genius of 
this confidant, who became so famous in the 
history of Japan under the name of Iyeyas, 
applied itself diligently to sounding the depth 
of the danger. An embassy of Japanese 
Christians, directed by Father Valignani, the 
superior of the Order of Jesuits, had set out 
for Rome. Iyeyas supplied his master with 
proofs that the princes of Boungo, Omoura, 
and Arima had written, on this occasion, to 
the Spiritual Emperor of the Christians (Pope 
Gregory XIII) letters in which they declared 
that they threw themselves at his feet and 
worshipped him as their supreme Lord, in 
his quality of sole representative of God on 
earth. The Shogun dissembled his wrath, 
but only in order to render his vengeance 
more signal. He employed nearly a year 
in organizing, in concert with his favorite, the 
blow he meditated. 

At length, in June, 1587, his troops were 
at their posts, in their suspected provinces of 
Kiousiou and the southern coast of Niphon, 
in sufficient force to suppress any attempt at 
resistance. On one especial day, from one 



76 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



end of the Empire to the other, an edict was 
published, by order of the Shogun, hy which, 
in the name and as the lieutenant of the 
Mikado, he commanded the suppression of 
Christianity within six months; ordered that 
the foreign missionaries should be banished 
in perpetuity, on pain of death; that their 
schools should be immediately closed, their 
churches demolished, crosses pulled down 
wherever they were found; and that the 
native converts should abjure the new doc- 
trine in the presence of the Government 
officials. 

At the same time, in order to make the 
agreement between the two potentates evi- 
dent, the Mikado paid a solemn visit to his 
lieutenant, while the latter, to reward the 
services of his faithful Iyeyas, raised him to 
the rank of his prime minister, and made him 
governor of eight provinces. 

Loyal to Their Faith. 

All the measures provided by the edict of 
the Shogun were punctually accomplished, 
with the exception of one, which was pre- 
cisely that which the ex-groom expected to 
have given him the least trouble. To his 
profound amazement, the native Christians of 
both sexes, of all classes, and of every age 
absolutely refused to abjure. Those who 
possessed land he dispossessed, and enriched 
his officers with their spoils. Others were 
imprisoned or exiled. These rigorous ex- 
amples produced no effect whatever. 

The recalcitrants were threatened with 
capital punishment. They bowed their 
heads to the sword of the executioner with 
resignation hitherto unknown ; and in many 
instances the sympathies of the crowd were 
excited by the testimony which they ren- 
dered to their Faith. Then the most 
ingenious modes of torture were resorted 
to, and the native Christians were put to 



death by fire and crucifixion. In a great 
number of cases the latter mode was selected. 
The Japanese martyrs rivalled the first con 
fessors of the Church in the constancy oi 
their faith. For three consecutive years the 
fury of the Shogun's officers vainly ex- 
pended itself in the utmost refinements of 
barbarity and brutality, in ferocious, hideous, 
unspeakable inventions, practiced upon more 
than 20,500 victims, men and women, young 
men and maidens, old men and little children. 

Great Battle in Corea. 

Suddenly, the persecution was relaxed. 
Fide-Yosi called the feudal nobles to arms, 
and threw 160,000 fighting men on the 
coasts of Corea, with which country Japan 
was at perfect peace (1592). His general 
summoned the Coreans to join them in 
attacking the dynasty of the Mings. The 
Chinese army marched to meet the invaders, 
but it suffered so decisive a defeat, that the 
Emperor of China hastened to offer the 
Shogun peace, with the title of King of 
Niphon and First Vassal of the Celestial 
Empire. 

Fide-Yosi proudly replied : " I am already 
King of Niphon ; I am so of myself, and I 
should know how, if I chose to do so, to 
make the Emperor of China my vassal." 

In 1 597 he followed up his threat by 
sending a second army of 130,000 men. 
But death surprised him, towards the close 
of the following year, before the issue of 
the new campaign ; and the two Empires, 
equally weary of an unjustifiable war, has- 
tened to be reconciled, and recalled their 
armies. During his later years, Fide-Yosi 
was honored by his Court with the surname 
of the Great (Taikosama) which history has 
preserved. 

The two Chinese expeditions which ended 
the career of Taikosama, and which one 



THE RESIDENCE OF THE SHOGUNS. 



77 



might be tempted to regard as foolish adven- 
tures, seem to have been, as well as his edict 
of persecution, acts maturely premeditated 
with the view to attaining the double end of 
his ambitious dreams, the crushing of the 
feudal nobility and the foundation upon its 
ruins of a monarchical dynasty. Already 
the vassals of the Empire were exhausted in 
sterile internal strife : it was necessary to 
ruin them by distant and costly wars. 

Under the pretext of protecting the wives 
and children of the Da'imios who were called 
to military service, Ta'ikosama obliged the 
families and the principal servants of the 
princes to come and live in houses which he 
had prepared for them within the enclosure 
of his fortresses. When the nobles them- 
selves returned from China, they could only 
regain possession of their lands on condition 
of residing on them henceforth alone, without 
their families, but with the power of tempo- 
rarily rejoining the latter at the Court of the 
Shogun, where they were still to remain as 
hostages. 

Powerful Princes Overthrown. 

Kaempfer describes this as a unique and 
marvellous example of a great number of 
powerful princes subjugated by a simple 
soldier of low extraction. But this was not 
enough to keep the provinces under the 
domination of the new central power. 

Hitherto the cities of residence had been 
united to one another by a military road. 
Ta'ikosama profited by the absence of the 
nobles to make a road through their lands, 
extending to the extremities of the Empire, 
which was to be independent of all other 
ward, police, or jurisdiction than that of the 
Shogun. It was called the Tokaido. Posts 
were established at twenty minutes' dis- 
tance one from the other — spaces still 
covered without rest by the Imperial run- 



ners who form the postal service at the 
present time. 

In each station runners were ready to 
relieve their comrades ; saddle-horses and 
pack-horses harnessed; custom-house offi- 
cers, police, and a picket of soldiers, who 
have charge of a rock furnished with guns 
and lances for arming the reinforcements. 
Finally, a perfect network of day and night 
signals covered the heights, in order to 
spread alarm to the headquarters of the 
Government forces at the first indication of 
danger. 

An Oath Signed With Blood. 

It was the midst of these works, which by 
their results were to acquire all the import- 
ance of a permanent occupation of the feudal 
provinces, that Ta'ikosama was surprised by 
death in the sixty-third year of his age and 
the twelfth of his reign. His last wishes 
were that measures might be taken for the 
consolidation of his dynasty. Although his 
son Fide-Yosi was yet a minor, he married 
him to the daughter of his first minister 
Iyeyas, to whom he confided the regency of 
the Empire. 

Iyeyas bound himself by a solemn oath, 
signed with his blood, to relinquish his 
powers as soon as the presumptive heir 
should be old enough to ascend the throne. 
He closed the eyes of Ta'ikosama, gave him 
a magnificent funeral, and governed Japan 
for five years under the title of Regent, 
applying himself systematically to keep the 
young Shogun out of the management of 
affairs. But the latter had certain counsel- 
lors, who saw through the designs of Iyeyas, 
and successfully raised all sorts of obstacles 
to the realization of his ambitious plans. 
Iyeyas summoned them to give up to him 
the fortress of Osaka, where they had estab- 
lished the residence of his son-in-law. On 



78 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



their refusal, he invested the place. After 
several months of heroic resistance, the gar- 
rison was obliged to capitulate. Fide-Yosi 
set fire with his own hands to his palace, and 
flung himself with all his servants, into the 
flames. 

Iyeyas, proclaimed Shogun, justified his 
perjury and the tragic end of Fide-Yosi, by 



noble families of the Empire. At that epoch, 
at the commencement of the seventeenth cen- 
tury, Yeddo was not equal in importance to 
the pontifical Miako, nor to Osaka, the centre 
of commerce, nor even to Nagasaki. 

But, like the last city, it has the advan- 
tage of a strategical position, easily defended 
on the land side, and regarded as impregna- 




A JAPANESE LADY 

accusing that prince of having secretly con- 
spired with the Christians. The army took 
the oath of fidelity to him. The Mikado 
sanctioned his usurpation. The people 
prostrated themselves before him with the 
docility of slaves. 

To the usurper Iyeyas is due the merit of 
having made Yeddo the political capital of 
Japan, and the obligatory residence of the 



IN HER PALANQUIN. 

ble on that of the sea. Kaempfer, who on 
two occasions went with an embassy of the 
Dutch India Company to Kioto and to 
Yeddo, reckons that in the line of the 
Toka'ido, or close to it, there are thirty-three 
great cities with fortresses and fifty-seven 
small towns unfortified, without mentioning 
an infinite number of villages and hamlets. 
It takes no less than from twenty-five to 



THE RESIDENCE OF THE SHOGUNS. 



79 



thirty days to go from Nagasaki to Yeddo, 
by the Tokaido, using the means of trans- 
port customary among the natives, who 
know no other than the horse or the palan- 
quin. 

There are two sorts of palanquin, the 
norimon and the cango. The former, which 
requires four bearers for long journeys, is a 
large, heavy box, in which one may sit with 
tolerable comfort. The sides are in lacquered 
wood, and contain two sliding doors. Al- 
though the norimon is, par excellence-, the 
vehicle of the nobility, it admits of no orna- 
ments, and is used by the ladies of the 
middle class. The cango is a light litter of 
bamboo, open on both sides ; it requires 
only two bearers, who always walk with a 
rapid and regular step. They rest for one 
minute out of twenty. When they go back, 
each carries in his turn the cango, suspended 
at the end of a pole, over his shoulder. 

The Great Highway. 

The pack-horses intended for the trans- 
port of merchandise and of travellers go 
slowly behind their drivers, the head bent, 
and attached by a strap which passes under 
the body to the cord which goes round the 
animal. The Japanese, instead of shoeing 
their horses, wrap their hoofs in a little mat, 
which only lasts one day. According as 
these mats wear out, they are thrown aside, 
and immediately replaced, and large pro- 
visions of them always make part of the 
baggage. Foot passengers do the same 
with their sandals of plaited straw ; so that 
all the roads of Japan are covered with these 
relics. 

The Tokaido is crossed in several places 
by arms of the sea and by rapid rivers. 
Large boats do duty as coaches, and cross 
the strait which separates the island of 
Kiousiou from Simonoseki, in two hours. 



Most of the travellers, and even pilgrims, 
profit by the great merchant-junks of the 
inland sea to make the journey from Simo- 
noseki to Hiogo. It is only half a day's 
journey from Hiogo to Osaka, and one day 
from Osaka to Kioto. Between this city and 
Yeddo lie the most picturesque portions of 
the road. 

Crossing the Rivers. 

Travellers cross the rivers in flat boats, or 
on the shoulders of porters. These porters 
form a corporation, which indemnifies the 
traveller in case of personal accident or loss 
of baggage. With the exception of a girdle 
tattooing suffices for their clothing, according 
to custom among the Coolies of Japan. The 
subjects of this process are heroic, such as 
the Strife of Yamato with the Dragon, the 
Tribunal of Hell, and the image of that in- 
comparable soldier who, when his head was 
falling under the sword, tore off his enemies' 
armor with his teeth. 

The fare is always extremely moderate, 
and varies according to whether eight men 
are employed to carry the norimon, or four 
men with a litter, two men with a stretcher, 
or a simple porter. In the latter case, which 
is the most frequent, the traveller seats him- 
self astride the bearer's neck, and the latter 
takes him by both legs, and, telling him to 
sit steadily, steps into the water warily and 
firmly. Sometimes a sudden rise of the 
river intercepts the passage, and then the 
travellers install themselves in the tea-houses 
on the shore, from whence they watch the 
water until the porters come to tell them 
that the ford is practicable. 

Three days' journey from Yeddo, the 
Tokaido passes by the foot of Fousi-yama, 
from which it is only separated by the lake 
of Akoni. Thousands of pilgrims go 
annually in procession to the summit of the 



80 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



marvellous mountain, where they are re- 
ceived by the monks of a convent built at 
the very edge of the crater, which opened 
for the first time 286 years before the birth 
of Christ and vomited its lava in 1707. 

The hills of Akoni, covered with forests 
in which large game abound, give access to 
no other road than that of the Toka'ido. All 
the roads of the provinces to the west and 
south of Yeddo are connected with this great 
artery, while this one ends in a narrow defile, 
provided with heavy barriers and fortified 
guard-houses. Here all travellers have to 
exhibit their passports, and submit their 
effects to the inspection of the Government 
officers. Yeddo is now named Tokio. 

Neither the rank of the Grand Daimios, 
nor their imposing suites, can exempt them 
from these formalities, whose special object 
is the prevention of the clandestine convey- 
ance of arms into the provinces, no less than 
attempts at evasion on the part of the noble 
ladies whose birth and the laws of Taikosama 
condemn them to reside at Tokio. 

A Formidable Wall. 

Not content with these precautions, which 
do not extend to the northern provinces, 
Iyeyas and his successors thought it neces- 
sary to protect the approaches to their capi- 
tal on that side by a long wall, at whose 
gates an inspection is made by the custom- 
house and police officers. 

Beyond the hills of Akoni, the Toka'ido 
overlooks the gulf of Odawara, towards the 
bay of Yeddo, which it joins at the village 
of Kanagawa, opposite Yokohama. All 
these localities have been the scenes of assas- 
sinations, committed upon inoffensive for- 
eigners of different nations by men belonging 
to the class of the Samourais, or Japanese 
nobles having the privilege of carrying two 
swords. 



Major Baldwin and Lieutenant Bird, 
English officers, were murdered not far from 
the statue of the Daiboudhs of Kamakoura. 
The corpse of Lieutenant Camus, a French 
officer, was found horribly mutilated at the 
entrance of the village of Odongaia. An 
English merchant, Mr. Lenox Richardson, 
was killed upon the threshold of the tea- 
house of Maneia, near Kanagawa. Two 
Russian officers, and, shortly after, two Cap- 
tains of the Dutch merchant marine, M. Vos 
and M. Decker, were cut to pieces in the 
High Street of the Japanese city of Yoko- 
hama. A Japanese interpreter to the English 
minister, and the Dutch interpreter of the 
American Legation, Mr. Keusken, perished 
in the streets of Tokio. 

Narrow Escape. 

The whole of the British Legation had a 
narrow escape from falling victims to a night 
attack, which was repelled with great blood- 
shed. Two English soldiers were killed at 
their posts in a second attack on the same 
legation. It is difficult to forget these things 
when one is residing in the country where 
they have happened, and above all when one 
has installed one's self at Tokio. 

The Government of the Tycoon is always 
disposed to dwell upon the danger presented 
by a sojourn in the capital. That does not 
prevent their adding that the Tycoon is pro- 
foundly humilated that such a state of things 
should exist in his country. On the other 
hand, where he finds himself at a loss for 
expedients to escape the reception of an em- 
bassy, or when he has used eloquence in per- 
suading them to retire, he is particularly 
anxious to prove to his foreign guests that 
the fears he has thought it his duty to 
express are well founded. 

Thus, when one goes to Tokio by land, 
one is obliged to accept the escort of a troop 



THE RESIDENCE OF THE SHOGUNS. 



81 



of mounted Yakounines. Ours joined us at 
the limit assigned to the residents of Yoko- 
hama for their exercise towards the north of 
the bay. We crossed the arm of the sea 
which separates Benten from Kanagawa in 
our sampan. 

Our horses were awaiting us in the latter 
village, and we enjoyed our last hour of 
liberty by following the Tokaido, with its two 
interminable files of travellers on foot and on 
horseback, in norimons and in cangos; those 
who were going to the capital kept the road 
to the right ; those who were coming back 
keeping the left. 

Typical Tea- House. 

We halted at the Maneia tea-house, which 
was crowded with picturesque groups of 
guests. All along the front were stoves, 
smoking kettles, tables laden with provisions, 
active waitresses coming and going on the 
right and left, distributing lacquered trays 
with cups of tea, bowls of saki, fried fish, 
cakes, and fruits of the season. Before the 
threshold, seated on benches, were artisans 
and coolies fanning themselves, while their 
wives lit their pipes at the common brasero. 

Suddenly a movement of horror mani- 
fested itself among the guests and the wait- 
resses; a detachment of police officers, 
escorting a criminal, came to take refresh- 
ment. With great haste, boiling tea and 
saki are offered to the two-sworded men, 
while the coolies, who carried the prisoner 
in a bamboo basket, without any opening, 
deposit their burden on the ground, and rub 
themselves dry with a long piece of crape. 
As for the unhappy criminal, who could be 
seen doubled up in his bamboo prison, a 
man with haggard eyes, dishevelled hair, and 
bushy beard, he was going to be tortured in 
the prisons of Tokio, as a punishment for 
the evil deeds set forth upon a placard which 
Ja.— 6 



hung from his ignominious basket. He was 
object of pity and curiosity. 

The beautiful little town of Kawasaki 
boasts of several temples, among which 
that of the Daisi-Gnawara-Heghensi seems 
to me to be one of the purest monuments 
of Buddhist architecture in Japan. I had 
heard different versions of the worship to 
which it is consecrated; among others, the 
miraculous legend reputed of the Saint who 
was the special object of the veneration of 
the faithful in that place. To so high a 
degree did he possess the virtue of contem- 
plation, that he did not perceive that a coal 
fire placed near him in a brazier was con- 
suming his hands, while he was absorbed in 
meditation. 

Shaded Footpaths. 

Although the Tokaido is in general as 
fine a road as any of our great European 
highways, and has the advantage over them 
of being bordered over its whole extent by 
footpaths shaded with fine plantations of 
trees, it is, in the environs of the capital, 
strange to say, that it is worse kept. One 
day of rain turns the streets of the numerous 
villages beyond Kanagawa into gullies. On 
this point, as upon many others, the Japanese 
display, at the same time, a remarkable intel- 
ligence in all their works of civilization, and, 
when they come to the application of them, 
a carelessness in detail no less extraordinary. 

At length we reach the populous suburbs 
of Tokio. A short halt on the threshold of 
one of the numerous tea-houses of the vil- 
lage of Omori introduces us to a merry com- 
pany of citizens, accompanied by their wives 
and children. Other groups, who were mak- 
ing no less noise, were besieging a great toy 
shop; an infinite variety of playthings for 
children, fancy straw hats, animals of plaited 
straw, painted and varnished, were placed in 



82 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



the front. I readily recognized the bear of 
Yeso, the monkey of Niphon, the domestic 
buffalo, the tortoise a hundred years old, 
dragging like a long tail great tufts of sea- 
weed growing from his shell. 

But time pressed, and, the sight of the 
ofting covered with white sails exciting our 
impatience, we made our way to the sea- 
board. The road rests on strong stone 
foundations, but the waves which formerly 
came up to it are now lost among the reeds 
and sea-plants. On our left is stretched a 
pine-wood, and some cypress groves, over 
which we noticed great flocks of crows were 
hovering; our guides informed us that this 
is the place of capital executions, Dzousou- 
kamori — or at least that of the southern 
quarter of the great city, for there is a 
second in the northern quarter. 

Ghastly Symbols of Death. 

The aspect of the place is exceedingly 
gloomy. If one is sufficiently fortunate as 
to escape the sight of mutilated heads or 
bodies abandoned to the dogs and the birds, 
one cannot behold, without horror, the great 
extent of earth covering the last remains of 
criminals, a granite pillar, bearing I know 
not what funeral inscription, a platform ap- 
propriated to the use of the officers who 
have to preside at executions, and a gigantic 
statue of Buddha, a gloomy symbol of im- 
placable expiation and death without conso- 
lation. 

Immediately after passing the place where 
the justice of the Taikoun exhibits his exem- 
plary vengeance to the people, we enter the 
most ill-famed faubourg of Tokio, Sinagawa, 
which commences at two miles south of the 
city, and joins it at the gates of the Takanawa 
quarter. 



The Government has taken measures to 
provide foreigners coming to Tokio, or re- 
siding in that city, with a strong escort pass- 
ing through Sinagawa, which they are only 
allowed to do by daylight. The regular 
population of this neighborhood is inoffen- 
sive, being composed for the most part of 
boatmen, fishermen, and laborers; but they 
inhabit the cabins which throng the beach, 
while the two sides of the Tokaido are lined 
almost uninterruptedly with tea-houses of the 
worst kind, which harbor the same scum of 
society as in the great cities in Europe and 
America, and in addition a very dangerous 
class of men proper to the capital of Japan. 

Two Swords to One Man. 

These are the lonines; officers without 
employment, belonging to the caste of the 
Samourais, and consequently preserving the 
right of wearing two swords. Some of them 
are men of good family, who have been 
turned out of their homes in consequence 
of the debauchery of their lives. Others 
have lost, through misconduct, their place 
in the service of the Taikoun, or in the mili- 
tary house of some Da'imio. Others have 
been dismissed by a chief whom evil times 
has forced to restrict his expenses by the re- 
duction of his personal following, and are 
now thrown upon their own resources. 

The lonine, deprived of the paj r on which 
he lived, and knowing no other profession 
than that of arms, has general!); no other 
resource, while waiting for a new engage- 
ment, than to take refuge in these dens of 
vice, where he repays the hospitality which 
he receives by the vilest kind of industry. 
The customers whom he attracts add new 
elements of wickedness to those with which 
the faubourg abounds. 



CHAPTKR V. 
THE GREAT CITY OF TOKIO. 



ABOVE all other great cities in the 
world, Tokio, formerly called Yed- 
do, seems to be favored by nature 
in situation, climate, vegetable 
wealth and abundance of running water. It 
is placed at the mouth of two rivers, of 
which one bathes the Hondjo, a suburban 
district, on the east, and the other, passing 
from north to south through the most popu- 
lous quarters of the town, separates the 
Hondjo from the city, and from the two 
Asaksas, also suburban districts. 

Two wide streams among seven or eight 
of less importance flow through the districts 
which surround the citadel ; they are the 
Tanorike and the Yeddo Gawa. 

Basins, tanks, moats and a whole network 
of irrigating canals connect these natural 
water-courses, and carry commercial circul- 
ation, popular animation, and the movement 
and life of the immense capital, into the 
heart -of the city, as well as to the centre 
and extremities of the Hondjo. 

Among the number of canals on the sea 
side of the citadel, that of Niphon-bassi 
holds the first rank ; the canal of Kio-bassi 
holds the second ; they are both in the heart 
of the commercial city. The most pic- 
turesque view of Tokio is to be had from its 
Niphon-bassi, the most strongly fortified of 
the bridges. 

On turning towards the north, we have on 
the horizon the white pyramid of Fousi- 
yama ; on the right, the city overlooked by 
terraces, the parks and the square towers of 
the residence of the Tycoon. In the same 



direction, and, as far as its junction with the 
moats of the citadel, the canal of Niphon- 
bassi is bordered on both banks by innum- 
erable warehouses containing silk, cotton, 
rice and saki. 

On our left, beyond the fish-market, lie 
canals and streets which go down to the 
Ogawa. Hundreds of long boats, laden 
with wood, coal, bamboo canes, mats, cov- 
ered baskets, boxes, barrels and enormous 
fish are crossing and recrossing through all 
the channels of navigation, while the streets 
seem to be exclusively given up to the 
people. Occasionally, a string of horses or 
black buffaloes heavily laden may be distin- 
guished among the crowd of foot passen- 
gers, and sometimes we see heavy wagons 
carrying four or five layers of skilfully 
packed bales. These two-wheeled vehicles 
are drawn by coolies. No other kind of 
carriage is to be seen. 

Strange Noise and Confusion. 

The sound of wooden shoes upon the 
pavements and upon the sonorous bridges, 
the bells on the harness of the beasts of 
burden, the gongs of the beggars, the ca- 
denced cries of the coolies, and the confused 
noises which come up from the canal, form 
a strange harmony, unlike the sounds of 
any other cities. All great cities have a 
voice of their own. In London and New 
York it is like the surge of the rising tide ; 
at Tokio, it is like the murmur of a stream. 

As wave follows wave, so do generations 
succeed each other. That which I have 

83 



84 



under my eyes is passing away and disap- 
pearing, carrying with it all that its ancestors 
bequeathed to it ; objects of worship, ancient 
costumes, old arms, laws which dated from 
centuries ; all these will soon be only a 
tradition to the new Japanese society which 
is forming itself in the school of the west. 

The Ogawa is the principal artery of 
Tokio. The Junk Harbor at the mouth of 
the great river occupies the entire space be- 
tween the small island of Iskawa and the 
large triangular island which makes part of 
the district of Niphon-bassi. Above the 
canal of this name the bridge of Yetoi ex- 
tends from the regions of the northeast of 
the triangle to the western bank of the dis- 
trict of Foukagawa. 

Motley Crowds. 

On both sides the population is essentially 
plebeian. With the exception of some Yas- 
kis of the second and third class, the houses 
of fishermen, mariners, and small shopkeepers 
form these quarters. The bridge, the squares, 
and the neighboring streets are constantly 
crowded with people of the lower classes, 
who have apparently no other object than 
recreation. The children play on the bridge 
and in the streets without any fear of being 
molested by the passers-by. 

No less than four gigantic bridges span 
the banks of the Ogawa, with intervals 
between them of about twenty minutes' 
walk ; and the squares upon which they 
debouch, on the Hondjo side as well as on 
that of Tokio, are almost all equally spacious. 

Ascending the river on the north of Tokio 
we come in the first place to the great bridge 
O-bassi, so named because it is the largest 
of the four ; the third and fourth bridges, 
Riogokou and Adsouma, are very nearly 
as spacious ; above the Adsouma-bassi the 
river takes the name of Sumida-gawa. These 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 

limpid waters form the extreme limit of the 
quarters north of the citadel. A single 
bridge, with sixteen arches, called the Bridge 
of Oskio-kaido, or Northern Road, places the 
whole of this portion of the city in commu- 
nication with the fields, the villages, and the 
rustic tea-houses of the northern suburb, 
which abounds in fertile fields and charming 
views, and is the favorite scene of parties of 
pleasure. 



A Magnificent Suburb. 

If the inhabitant of Tokio is proud of his 
good city, he is additionally proud of the 
magnificent suburb called Inako, for he is 
susceptible alike to the charms of nature 
and the pleasures of society, and loves the 
cool retreats on the banks of the Oskio- 
Kaido as well as the crowded quays of the 
city. There are three things to which the 
Japanese refuses his sympathy. First, that 
perfidious element the sea, which he aban- 
dons to the fishermen, the boatmen, and the 
garrison of the six detached forts ; secondly, 
the cold solitude of the bonze-houses ; and 
thirdly, the formidable enclosure of the cita- 
del and the Da'imio-Kodzi. 

He keeps as far away from all these as his 
business will permit, and such pleasure as he 
takes in the city itself he seeks for at a 
respectful distance from the seat of the 
Government. The Riogokou, or Liogokou- 
bassi, may be regarded as the centre of the 
nocturnal merry-makings of the citizens. 
This bridge, which is completely outside the 
commercial quarter of the city, places the 
Hondjo in communication with theAsaksas: 
or two districts on the left bank, which con- 
tain the principal places of amusement in 
Tokio. The river is not deep enough to 
float merchant junks at this height, but its 
surface is covered with hundreds of light 
boats, which can move about freely in all 



THE GREAT CITY OF TOKIO. 



85 



directions thus giving the waterway a very 
lively appearance. 

During the fine nights in summer, rafts, 
laden with pyrotechnic devices, go up the 
stream and fling bouquets of stars towards 
the sky. Gondolas, ornamented with bril- 
liantly-colored lanterns, cross and recross 
from one bank to the other, while large 
barques, all decorated with lamps and ban- 
ners, are slowly propelled, or lie still upon 
the water, while their joyous crews are play- 
ing the guitar or singing. A crowd of 
bystanders lines the bridges and the quays, 
delighting in the animated and picturesque 
spectacle which the river affords. 

Tokio, at these times, presents an almost 
identical picture of a Venetian fete, without 
omitting the Syrens, who are not wanting on 
the waters of the Ogawa any more than on 
the Lagoons. But, on the other hand, we 
must be careful not to compare the great 
family boats of the Riogokou-bassi to the 
flower-laden barques of China. 

The Charm of Music. 

The former generally belong to respectable 
tea-houses, and are let out by the hour, the 
proprietors of the tea-houses furnishing their 
customers with refreshments and guitar- 
players. They are only annexes of these 
tea-houses, and occasionally of the little 
bamboo establishments which are built on 
the quays, and used by professional singers 
and musicians. The neighborhood of the 
bridges, far from injuring the effect of the 
productions of these humble artists, lends 
them an additional charm. 

The intervals of silence are broken by the 
distant noise of comers and goers on the 
wooden bridge. No roll of carriages, none 
of the discordant clamor of our European 
cities breaks the charm of our impressions. 

In Venice only, among European cities, 



can this same movement of the people, this 
same concert of steps, voices, sounds of 
music be heard, without anything to trouble 
its peaceful cadence and its charming har- 
mony. The Ogawa reminds us of the Grand 
Canal, and the neighborhood of the bridges 
of Tokio is, like the public squares of Venice, 
the rendezvous of the citizen population. 
The multitudes who meet each other there 
every evening cause no inconvenience what- 
ever; for though Tokio is a city of great 
dimensions, the Japanese people sponta- 
neously keep on the move. 

Japanese Musical Instruments. 

Musical entertainments in Tokio are only 
appreciable by the natives ; for the Japanese 
melodies have something in them strange 
and incomprehensible to the ear of the 
European and American. The musical sys- 
tem upon which they rest is hardly known. 
Japanese music is very rich in semitones, 
and even in quarter-tones. M. F. J. Fetis 
observes that the melodies collected by 
Siebold seem to destroy the theory of 
analogy between Japanese and Chinese 
music ; so that there exists in the musical 
art, as in the native idiom of that country, 
the double mystery of a separate system, 
which has nothing in common with the 
Western world, or with that of the far East. 

Japanese musical instruments are also re- 
markable for their originality. Stringed in- 
struments are made of light and sonorous 
wood, and the strings are fine cords of silk 
thinly coated with lacquer. The samsin and 
the guitar are, above all others, the popular 
instruments ; they are indispensable articles 
in the trousseau of a young bride. 

The kokiou, a violincello played with a 
bow, is frequently used, and also the biwa, a 
violincello played with the plectrum of the 
samsin. 



86 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



The Japanese clarionet is made of bamboo, 
like a flute, and they have also a sort of flageo- 
lette with eight holes. 

The Japanese use the trumpet and the 
marine conch exclusively in their religious 
festivals. 

They have two kinds of percussion instru- 
ments. One is made of copper or composite 
metal, and includes a great variety of gongs 
of various shapes, among them shields, bells, 
fish and tortoise, and the sound they produce 
varies between the grave and sonorous and 
the squeaky and shrill. Besides these they 
have an instrument formed of two rings fast- 
ened on a handle, and struck by a light metal 
rod. 

Rattles and Drums. 

The other instruments of percussion are 
wooden rattles, stone drums like bowls, which 
stand on low frames ; a musical drum made 
of leather; finally, the tom-tom, or portable 
tambourine, and the kettle drum. 

The tambourines, which invariably accom- 
pany the character dances, are .sometimes 
played two at a time, one being held under 
the arm and the other in the left hand. 

The Sibaia, or national theatre of the 
Japanese, occasionally employs the whole of 
the musical resources of the city, in pieces 
which bear a distant resemblance to our 
great operas. 

According to a Japanese saying, in order 
to be happy one must visit Tokio. The 
southern portion of the city, in which the 
foreign legations are established, includes 
eight districts, all essentially plebian. They 
contain a considerable agricultural popula- 
tion, devoted to the culture of kitchen-gar- 
dens, rice-grounds, and all the arable lands 
not yet invaded by dwellings. These dis- 
tricts are composed of a multitude of mean 
houses tenanted by fishermen, laborers, small 



artisans, retail shop-keepers, inferior officers, 
and low-class eating-house keepers. A few 
lordly mansions break the uniformity of these 
wooden buildings by their long whitewashed 
walls. Bonze-houses and temples are scat- 
tered about everywhere, except in the two 
quarters built on the bay: Takanawa alone 
contains thirty. 

The low streets and quays of Takanawa 
are filled from morning to night with a great 
concourse of people. The staple population 
of this quarter seems to live on taxes levied 
on all comers. Here tobacco is chopped 
and sold; there rice is packed and made 
into cakes ; along the whole line dried fish, 
watermelons, and an infinite variety of fruits 
and other cheap eatables are displayed upon 
tables in the open air, or in innumerable res- 
taurants. 

Everywhere there are coolies, porters, and 
boatmen offering their services. In the small 
side streets are stalls for the pack-horses and 
stabling for the buffaloes, who draw in the 
products of the surrounding country upon 
the rustic carts which are the only wheeled 
vehicles in Tokio. 

Dancers and Jugglers. 

At the doors of the tea-houses of Tak- 
anawa, the singers, dancers and wandering 
jugglers, who come to try their luck in the 
capital, make their first appearance. Among 
the former there exists a privileged class 
subject to police discipline. They may be 
recognized by their large flat hats pulled 
down on their foreheads ; they always go 
about two by two, or four by four — two 
dancers accompanying the two musicians 
who play the samsin and sing romantic 
songs. 

The favorite tumblers of the Japanese 
streets are little boys, who, before they begin 
their tricks, hide their heads under a hood, 




JAPANESE CUSTOM OF FREEING THE CAPTIVES. 



87 



88 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



surmounted by a tuft of cock's feathers, and 
wear a little scarlet mask which represents a 
dog's muzzle. To the monotonous sound 
of their master's tambourine these poor 
children play their antics, representing the 
spectacle of a grotesque and really fantastic 
struggle between two animals with the heads 
of monsters and human limbs. 

The constant sound of gongs, and of the 
bells of the mendicant monks mingle with 
the deafening noises of the streets almost as 
frequently as at Kioto. At Tokio I per- 
ceived for the first time that the monks were 
not shaven, and I inquired to what order 
they belonged. Our interpreter told me 
that they were laymen merely, people of 
Tokio who were making a trade or mer- 
chandise of devotion. 

Grotesque Apparel. 

Although they were all dressed in white, 
the sign of mourning and repentance, those 
who carried a long stick with a bell, some 
books in a basket, and a large white hat dec- 
orated at one side with a drawing of Fousi- 
yama, had just returned from accomplishing 
a pilgrimage to the holy mountain at the 
expense of public charity; and the others, 
with a gong at the waist, a great black hat 
striped with yellow, and a heavy sack upon 
their backs, were probably ruined shop- 
keepers, who had nothing better to do than 
to hawk about idols on commission for a 
bonze-house. 

By following the great street which, be- 
ginning at the Toka'ido, the great highway of 
Japan, cuts obliquely the chain of hills on 
which the legations are built, and crossing 
the southern part of Takanawa in a straight 
line from north to south, we pass succes- 
sively through three distinct zones of the 
social life of Tokio. 

First, the southern zone, which I have just 



described, with its multitudes living in the 
open air and conducting all their business in 
the public street. Between the hills we find 
a sedentary population, devoted to various 
kinds of manual labor. Even their dwellings 
and their workshops may be distinguished 
from afar by their significant signs : here a 
board cut in the form of sandals or of a 
kirimon ; next an enormous umbrella of wax- 
paper hanging above the shop ; further on a 
quantity of straw hats of all dimensions sus- 
pended from the top of the roof and reach- 
ing the shop-door. 

Repairing Coats of Mail. 

We look for a moment at the armorers 
and the burnishers engaged in repairing coats 
of mail, war fans, and sabres for the 
Samoura'is ; an old artisan perfectly naked 
squats upon a mat, blowing the bellows of 
the forge with the great toe of the left foot, 
and hammering with his right hand an iron 
bar which he holds in his left. His son, also 
squatting in a corner, is putting the bars into 
the fire with a pair of pincers, and passing 
them to his father when reddened. The chief 
of our escort bade us continue our march. 

By degrees the road began to be deserted. 
We were entering into the vast solitude of an 
agglomeration of seignorial residences. On 
our right extended the magnificent shade of 
the park belonging to Prince Satsouma ; on 
our left the boundary-wall of the palace of 
the Prince of Arima. When we had turned 
the northeast corner we found ourselves 
before the principal front of the building ; it 
stretches out parallel to a plantation of trees 
forming the bank of a limpid river which 
divides the Takanawa quarter from that of 
Atakosta. 

One of our party having made prepara- 
tions to photograph this beautiful scene, two 
officers belonging to the Prince's household 



THE GREAT CITY OF TOKIO. 



89 



came to him and begged him to discontinue 
his operations. Our friend requested them 
to go and take the orders of their master 
upon the subject; they went, but returned in 
a very few minutes, saying that the Prince 
absolutely forbade that any view should be 
taken of his palace. Beato obeyed respect- 
fully, and ordered the koskeis to take away 
the machine ; and the officers retired per- 
fectly satisfied, without the slightest suspicion 
that during their temporary absence the 
operator had taken two negatives. 

The yakounines of our escort, who had 
been witnesses of this scene, unanimously 
applauded the success of our friend's trick, 
but when he told them that it was his inten- 
tion to take a . photograph of the cemetery 
of the Tycoons, they in their turn opposed 
him, with a persistency that nothing could 
shake. We were even obliged to renounce 
the hope of entering the cemetery. 

Cypress Groves. 

We could perceive very distinctly the 
lofty red pagoda and the sombre groves of 
cypress, but we could only obtain leave to 
pass along the eastern side of the grove of 
Siba — the name given to the holy place, and 
which occurs again in the complete designa- 
tion of our own district Siba-Takanawa. 

We pass the river on an arched bridge, 
and, leaving on our left a few houses of the 
Akabane suburb which a recent fire had 
spared, we crossed a square, bounded on one 
side by a matohan or archery garden, and 
on the other by walls, behind which rise the 
plantations and roofs of Soiosti — a group of 
temples belonging to the great bonze-house, 
which has the honor of receiving the Ty- 
coons into their last resting-places, there to 
abide under the combined protection of the 
two religions of the Empire. 

Buddhism, it is true, is supreme in this 



place, where it possesses seventy sacred 
buildings, but among this number the ancient 
gods, Hatchiman, Benten, and Inari, has 
each his own chapel ; and a temple dedicated 
to the worship of the Kamis adorns the 
eastern avenue of Siba on the side of Tokaido 
and the bay. In the same direction is the 
landing-place of the Tycoon, on the island 
of Amagoten at the mouth of the river 
Tamoriike, which supplies the moats of the 
citadel. 

The Shaded River. 

Amagoten forms a regular parallelogram, 
and is united by two bridges, which are 
closed to the public. I rowed almost all 
round it in our consular sampan. The walls, 
the staircases, and the pavilions of the land- 
ing-place, and the groves of trees which 
surround it, are admirable in their grandeur, 
their simplicity, and their elegance. The 
river is bordered on both sides with great 
trees, which droop over its deep, pure waters. 

We left the enclosure of Siba, after we had 
reached its northeast limit. On that side is 
the palace of the High Priest, and beneath 
it we were shown the avenue and the door 
exclusively reserved for the use of the 
Tycoon ; he passes through it but once a 
year, when he goes to make his obligatory 
devotions at the tombs of his ancestors. 
Every courtier, following his example, pays 
a ceremonious visit on one day of the year 
to his family burial-ground. 

We pursued our route towards the north. 
The district of Atakosta, which extends on 
our right as far as Amagoten, is occupied by 
the residences of the Daimios, or territorial 
governors, and the great functionaries of the 
Empire. On our left, fourteen little contigu- 
ous temples present themselves. A wide 
stream separates them from the public way ; 
each has its special bridge, door, and wall, 



90 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



surrounded by the chapels and habitations of 
the bonzes. At the back of the court is the 
Chapel of the Ablutions, the sacred grove, 
and the roof of the sanctuary. 

The sixth bonze-house is the exception. 
On crossing the threshold we saw a great 
flagged court, with a majestic tori or gateway 
of granite, and when we passed in at the 
sacred door we found ourselves in the pres- 




et »^jat.^ 



tJIP 



JAPANESE LADY. 

ence of two candelabra placed at the foot of 
an esplanade reached by a flight of steps. 
Then comes a second court, bordered with 
fine trees, whose interlacing branches form 
aracades like that of a Gothic cathedral. 
Through their foliage we distinguished a 
wide stone staircase, the summit lost amid 
verdure. 



We ascended the staircase, which consists 
of one hundred steps very regularly laid, to 
the top of the hill. On the right is another 
road, which crosses the wooded slopes, and 
is composed of a series of staircases, with 
fiat terraces provided with resting-places. 

A dilapidated oratory with two insigni- 
ficant idols — one standing upon a lotus, the 
other seated upon a tortoise — with long 
covered galleries surrounding the tea- 
houses, occupies the summit of Ata- 
gosa-yama. The young waitresses of 
the house hasten to serve us with 
refreshments, and we take a few 
minutes' rest before we approach the 
pavilions at the two extremities of the 
terrace. 

At length the moment has come 
when we shall get a complete view 
of the great city. We begin at the 
southern pavilion, and we are at first 
dazzled by the extent and brilliancy 
of the picture. The sun is going down 
to the horizon in a cloudless sky; the 
transparency of the atmosphere per- 
mits us to distinguish the forts on the 
luminous surface of the bay, but over 
the whole space which extends from 
the offing to the foot of the hill there 
is nothing to arrest one's gaze. It is 
an ocean of long streets, white walls 
and grey roofs. The monotony of this 
picture is unbroken except by a few 
groups of trees with dark foliage, or 
a spire rising above the undulating 
lines of the innumerable houses. 

In a neighboring quarter we observe a 
large hole cut through the streets, as if a 
bomb-shell had passed ; it is the scene of a 
recent fire; At a little distance a sombre 
group of hills, consecrated to the sepulture 
of the Tycoons, rises like a solitary island 
above a tumultuous sea. 



THE GREAT CITY OF TOKIO. 



91 



The panorama seen from the northern pa- 
vilion is, if possible, more uniform. It in- 
cludes the quarters inhabited by the nobility, 
and its limit on the horizon is the ramparts 
of its citadel. 

The Daimio-yaski, or s^ignorial residences 
to which we improperly gave the name of 
palace, do not differ except by their dimen- 
sions. The most opulent and the simplest 
present the same type of architecture, the 
same character of simplicity. They are 
composed of a first enclosure of buildings 
reserved for the Prince's servants and men- 
at-arms. These buildings have only one 
story above the ground floor, and form a 
long square, always surrounded by a ditch ; 
a single roof covers them, a single wall pro- 
tects them, and most frequently they have no 
other issue on the public way than this one 
door. The windows are numerous, low, and 
wide, regularly placed on two parallel lines, 
and furnished with wooden shutters. 

Residence of the Prince. 

In the interior a more or less considerable 
number of houses divided into regular com- 
partments, like the barracks of the yakou- 
nines at Benten, are placed diagonally all 
round, or on two sides at least, of the centre 
building. These are the quarters of the 
Prince's troops. A wide space separates 
them from a second railed enclosure, which 
contains the Residence properly so called. 

The dependencies of the palace face the 
military quarter. The principal building is 
surrounded by a verandah opening upon an 
interior court, and upon the garden with its 
tanks and its delicious shades. Such is the 
inviolable and silent asylum in which the 
proud Daimio shuts himself up in the bosom 
of his family, during the six months of each 
year which the custom of the Empire obliges 
him to pass in the capital. 



We could form an idea of the dwellings 
of the Japanese nobility only from what 
might be discerned in a bird's-eye view of 
this quarter. No European has ever crossed 
the threshold of a Japanese Yaski. The 
Tycoon's ministers, following the example of 
the nobility, have never permitted the foreign 
ambassadors to visit their dwellings ; their 
personal relations are restricted to ceremonial 
audiences, which take place in certain build- 
ings which belong to the administration, and 
correspond to the ministerial residences in 
our country. Among this number are the 
two Marine Schools on the shore of the bay, 
and the Gokandjo-bounio, the seat of the 
Finance Department, at the northwest ex- 
tremity of Atakosta. 

Palaces of the Nobles. 

Edifices of this kind have in general the 
same external appearance as the palaces of 
the Da'imios. 

The panorama seen from Atagosa-yama 
shows us only a fourth part of the great 
capital. On the north our view was bounded 
by the walls of the residences of the Tycoon. 
We resolved to devote another day to the 
quarter which, with the citadel, forms the 
central portion of Tokio. 

The road we were about to follow resem- 
bled a mysterious labyrinth of stone, formed 
of the ramparts, the towers, and the palaces, 
behind which the power of the Tycoon has 
entrenched itself for two centuries and a half. 

It is an imposing spectacle, but it creates 
a painful impression. The political order of 
things instituted in Japan by the usurper 
Iyeyas vaguely recalls the regime of the 
Venetian Republic under the rule of the 
Council of Ten. It has, if not all its gran- 
deur, at least all its terrors — the sombre 
majesty of the chief of the State, the impene- 
trable mystery of his government, the latent 



92 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



and continuous action of a system of espion- 
age officially organized through all the 
branches of the administration, and bringing 
in its suite proscriptions, assassinations, and 
secret executions. We must not push the 
comparison further. 

We vainly seek at Tokio, in tbe vast 
extent of the citadel, any monument which 



archy, every functionary is assisted by a 
controller ; the genius of the employes is 
exercised in doing nothing and saying noth- 
ing which can furnish matter for compromis- 
ing reports. 

As to their private life, it is hidden, like 
that of the Japanese nobles in general, behind 
the walls of their domestic fortresses. While 




THE HERO YASHITZONE. 



deserves mention beside the marvellous 
edifices of the Piazza of St. Mark ; artistic 
taste is completely wanting in the Court of 
the Tycoon. It has been relinquished to the 
people, with poetry, religion, social life, all 
those superfluous things which do but clog 
the wheels of the governmental machine. 
From end to end of the administrative hier- 



the streets of the town, composed of houses 
standing wide open on the public way, are 
constantly enlivened by a crowd of comers 
and goers of all ages and of both sexes ; in 
the aristocratic quarters neither women nor 
children are to be seen, except indeed by 
stealth behind the window bars in the ser- 
vants' quarters. 



THE GREAT CITY OF TOKIO. 



93 



There are two societies in Tokio — one, 
armed and privileged, lives in a state of mag- 
nificent imprisonment, in the vast citadel ; 
the other, disarmed, and subject to the 
dominion of the first, seems to enjoy the 
advantages of liberty ; but, in reality, an iron 
yoke weighs upon the middle classes of the 
people of Tokio. Iniquitous laws punish a 
whole family, a whole quarter, for the crime 
of one of its members. The properties, and 
even the lives, of the citizens, are secured by 
no legal guarantee. The extortions and the 
violence of the two-sworded men remain too 
frequently unpunished. The citizen finds 
compensation in the charms of the beautiful 
city. 

Pastime of Shooting Peasants. 

If the sway of the Tycoons is severe, he 
remembers that the Mikados were not always 
amiable, and that one of them delighted in 
exhibiting his skill as an archer by shooting 
down peasants who were forced to climb 
trees within easy reach of his arrows. The 
peoples of countries accustomed to despotism 
are puzzled to decide where their patience 
ought to stop. 

A Japanese Emperor, born under the con- 
stellation of the Dog, commanded that dogs 
were to be respected as sacred animals, that 
they should never be killed, and that at their 
death they should receive the honors of 
sepulture. One of his subjects whose dog 
had died thought it right to inter the animal 
upon one of the funeral hills. As he was 
going along, fatigued with the weight of the 
four-footed corpse, he ventured to remark to 
a friend who was accompanying him, that 
the Emperor's decree appeared to him 
ridiculous. " Take care how you murmur," 
replied his comrade, " and recollect that our 
Emperor might j ust as well have been born 
under the sign of the Horse." 



The Sakourada quarter, which forms the 
first great line of defence of the citadel on the 
southern side, is surrounded by water at all 
parts, except the west, where it communi- 
cates with the Bantsio quarter by the arsenal 
belonging to the Tycoon. Ten bridges are 
thrown over the great ditches. The southern 
bridges have fortified gates, behind which the 
road makes a bend, which exposes it to the 
fire from the ramparts, and from the guns 
mounted in the interior. 

Soldiers From the Mountains. 

A strong detachment of the Tycoon's 
troops occupies the guard-house adjoining 
the gate through which we pass. The com- 
mon soldiers are men from the mountains of 
Akoni, who are discharged after two or three 
years' service. Their uniform is made of 
blue cotton, and consists of tight trousers, 
and a loose shirt, but crossed by white bands 
on the shoulders. They wear cotton socks, 
and leather soles fastened by sandals ; also a 
belt, from which hangs a large sabre with a 
lacquer scabbard. A pointed hat of lac- 
quered cardboard completes their costume, 
but they only wear it when mounting guard, 
or on parade. 

The guns of the Japanese army are all 
percussion, with varied calibre and construc- 
tion. I saw four different kinds in the racks 
of the barracks at Benten, into which a 
yakounine took me. He first showed me a 
Dutch model, then an arm of inferior quality, 
made at Tokio ; then an American gun, and 
finally the Minie, whose use was being 
taught by a young officer to a picket of 
soldiers in the courtyard. I remarked that 
this officer used the Dutch language. I asked 
him to come home with me, that I might 
show him my fowling-piece and a Swiss car- 
bine. Half a dozen of his comrades also 
accepted my invitation. 



94 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



I have more than once been present at as- 
saults of arms by the Yakounines. The 
champions salute each other before attack- 
ing. The one who is on guard frequently 
kneels on the ground, to parry his adver- 
sary's blows more successfully. Each pass 
is accompanied by theatrical poses and ex- 
pressive gestures ; each blow provokes pas- 
sionate exclamations on the part of both. 
Then the judges intervene and deliver their 
verdict. In the intervals the combatants 



ing before the half-open court. My yakou- 
nines immediately shut the door, assuring 
me that the customs of the country did not 
permit beholders. 

The Japanese nobles display much luxury, 
and take great pride in their arms, especially 
in their swords, which are of unrivalled 
temper, and are generally adorned on the 
handle and scabbard with ornaments in 
carved and wrought metal of extraordinary 
richness. But the principal value of these 




A JAPANESE COUCH. 



drink tea, after which they recommence with 
great spirit. 

There is even a School of Fence for the 
use of the Japanese ladies. Their arm is a 
lance, with a bent blade, which may be com- 
pared to a Polish reaping-hook. They carry 
it with the point towards the ground, and 
manoeuvre regularly in a series of attitudes, 
poses and harmonious movements, which 
would look remarkably well in a ballet. I 
was not allowed to enjoy this pretty spectacle 
long. I only caught a glimpse of it in pass- 



arms consists in their antiquity and their 
celebrity. Every sabre in the old families of 
the Daimios has its tradition and its history, 
whose eclat is measured by the blood which 
it has shed. 

A new sword must not remain intact in 
the hands of the man who has bought it i 
while waiting for an opportunity of dyeing 
it in the human blood, the Samourai who 
has become its happy possessor tries it on 
live animals, or, what is still better, upon 
the corpses of executed criminals. The exe- 



THE GREAT CITY OF TOKIO. 



95 



cutioner gives them up to him upon being 
authorized so to do by the proper function- 
ary, and he fastens them to a cross in his 
courtyard, where he practises in cutting and 
hacking until he has acquired sufficient 
strength and address to cut two corpses, tied 
together, through the middle. 

When the son of a Samourai is too little 
to carry arms at his belt, he is seen walk- 
ing, with an attendant, or even an elder 
sister, following him respectfully, and hold- 
ing in her right hand, by the middle of the 
scabbard, a sword suitable to the height of 
the diminutive personage. In another year 
or two fencing will become the principal oc- 
cupation of his life. 

A Bloody Conflict. 

The Tycoon selected a number of his 
young Yakounines, and sent them to Naga- 
saki, to learn the use of fire-arms, under the 
tuition of the Dutch officers. They were 
not very well received when they returned to 
the capital, and Avere quartered in the bar- 
racks for the purpose of instructing the new 
Japanese infantry. Their former comrades 
shouted " Treason ! " and threw themselves 
on them with arms in their hands. There 
were victims on both sides. 

Nevertheless, the decline of the sword is 
inevitable. Notwithstanding the traditional 
prestige with which the privileged caste still 
endeavor to surround it, notwithstanding the 
contempt in which it affects to hold the 
military innovations of the Government, 
that democratic arm the musket has been 
introduced into Japan, and with it an incal- 
culable social revolution has become a fact 
which the representatives of the feudal 
regime resent bitterly but vainly. 

The conduct of their chiefs has precipi- 
tated the catastrophe. Conspiracies in the 
palace and political assassinations multiply 



themselves at Yeddo with frightful rapidity. 
It is averred that several ministers of state 
have successively died violent deaths since 
the opening up of Japan. 

On the 24th of March, i860, at eleven 
o'clock in the morning, the Regent, carried 
in his norimon or royal chair, and coming 
out of the citadel by the Sakourada bridge, 
with an escort of four or five hundred men, 
was assailed by a band of seventeen lonines 
in the spacious public road, parallel with the 
ditch in the direction of his own palace. On 
both sides the fighting was severe. 

Story of a Regent's Head. 

Twenty soldiers of the escort fell at their 
post ; five conspirators perished with arms 
in their hands, two performed the " happy 
despatch," (cutting open their stomachs), 
four were made prisoners; the others escaped 
— among the chief of the expedition, who 
carried away the Regent's head under his 
cloak. Public rumor adds that the head 
was exposed in the chief place of the pro- 
vince, in which the Prince of Mito, the in- 
stigator of the conspiracy, resided, and then 
at Kioto, and finally that the Regent's people 
found it one day in the garden of the palace, 
into which it had been thrown over the wall 
in the night. 

The portions of Tokio inhabited by the 
aristocracy are almost entirely devoid of 
buildings consecrated to public worship. 
There is not one in the whole of the Da'imio's 
quarter. Bantsio and Sourouga have each 
three temples, but they are of little import- 
ance. There are half a dozen in Sakourada, 
amongst which is a celebrated bonze-house 
under the invocation of Sanno, " the King of 
the Mountain." Its title is one of the sur- 
names of Zinmou ; nevertheless, the bonze- 
house belongs to the Buddhist religion, and 
contains an altar consecrated to Quannon. 



96 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



The buildings and the groves of the sacred 
place occupy a group of hills, which rise 
above the southern enclosure of Sourouga, 
with its vast basins of limpid water sur- 
rounded by trees and flowers, and its 
myriads of birds. 

The political system of the Tycoons did 
not disdain clerical support for their budding 
dynasty. But as Iyeyas and his successors 
had nothing to hope from the good will of 
the Mikados, they conciliated the favor of 
the most influential sects of Buddhism by 
endowing bonze-houses and temples which 
surpass the most sumptuous sacred edifices 
of Kioto. The munificence of the Tycoons 
with regard to Buddhism has, however, 
added nothing to the reverence professed at 
Tokio for the ministers of that religion. It 
appears to me that, in all the diverse classes 
of society in the capital, the position of the 
bonzes is analogous to that of the Popes of 
the Greek Church when the latter come into 
contact with the nobles, the traders, or the 
Moujiks. The priests of the Kami worship 
are in a still less enviable condition, because 
their existence is hardly noticed. It is true 
that the representatives of the Mikado at the 
Court of the Tycoon, and some provincial 
noblemen, honor them by their patronage, 
but the generality of the feudal nobility in 



residence at Tokio stand entirely aloof from 
what is being done around them, in matters 
of religion as well as in everything else. They 
would prefer to pay a chaplain in the house 
rather than contribute to the support of any 
public worship whatever. The only thing 
they will do for the ancient national religion 
is to authorize the Kami priests to send their 
collectors once a year to the aristocratic 
quarters. 

The presents made on this occasion are 
voluntary. The persons charged with this 
office are the principal koskeis of the Kami 
temples, each of whom is followed by his 
own special koskei. The leader is dressed 
after the fashion of the ancient priests of the 
Court of the Mikado, with a lacquered cap, 
a great sword, and padded trousers, and he 
holds in his right hand a classic fan of cedar- 
wood. His attendant, who is disguised as a 
koskei from Kioto, carries a small tambou- 
rine, and a bag, destined to receive the gifts. 

Dances, comic songs, and burlesque pan- 
tomines form the oratorical artifices of the 
collectors. Thus the sacred collection is 
taken from palace to palace in the midst of 
the laughter and applause of the noble feudal 
families, whose political existence rests en- 
tirely upon the very religion which they help 
to bring into contempt. 



CHAPTER VI. 
SHOPS AND INDUSTRIES OF TOKIO. 



THE long- eastern portion of Tokio, ! 
which covers the left bank of the 
river Ogawa, comprises three quar- 
ters. That of Sumidagawa, on the 
north, belongs to the suburbs, and presents 
an entirely rustic character. It is covered 
with rice-fields, kitchen gardens, vast horti- 
cultural establishments, andtea-houses, spread 
along the river or scattered in the rear of great 
orchards of pear, plum, peach, and cherry 
trees. The other two quarters, between the 
former and the bay, contain a dense popula- 
tion, composed, for the most part of fishers, 
seamen, mechanics, and tradesmen. 

Thus the Hondjo proper corresponds to 
the industrial quarters of our large cities. 
We find there manufacturers of tiles and 
coarse pottery, of cooking utensils of iron, 
paper-mills, establishments for cleaning and 
preparing cotton, domestic spinneries of 
cotton and silk, dyeing establishments and 
others for weaving mats, baskets, or cloth 
stuffs. 

Japanese industry does not yet make much 
use of machinery. Nevertheless, in the iron- 
foundries one frequently sees bellows driven 
by water, which is carried to the wheel in 
bamboo pipes. Both charcoal and stone-coal 
are used for the furnaces. Women have 
their share in all the industrial professions, 
which are usually carried on at home. 

There are no large manufactories in Japan : 
the members of the laboring class stay at 
home and carry on their occupations, which 
they interrupt in order to eat when they are 
hungry, and to rest whenever they please. 
Ja.— 7 



In a company of six workmen of both sexes, 
there are almost always to be seen two 
smoking pipes and enlivening the toil of their 
comrades by merry speeches. 

Thus is developed, and transmitted from 
generation to generation that social instinct, 
that fund of good humor and spirit of repartee 
which characterize the lower classes of the 
capital. 

The quarters of the Hondjo are constructed 
on a plan of the most perfect regularity. 
They are bounded on the south by the bay, 
on the west by the Ogawa River, on the east 
by a smaller river, and on the north by a 
canal which separates them from the suburb 
of Sumidagawa. Two canals traverse them 
from north to south, and three from east to 
west. The squares, thus formed, inclose a 
world totally different from that upon the 
opposite bank of the river. 

Places of Public Resort. 

The Hondjo has no commercial life; it 
has neither the imposing masses of residences 
of the Castle, nor the animation of the places 
reserved for the pleasure of the populace -in 
the northern quarters ; nevertheless, we find 
there, existing under special conditions, com- 
merce and industry, temples, palaces, and 
places of public resort. Some of the most 
important merchants of Japan reside in the 
Hondjo, but they have their places of busi- 
ness in the vicinity of the great bridges. 

The comparative tranquillity of this region 
beyond the river and the facility with which 
concessions of large tracts of ground are 

97 



98 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



there obtained, seems to have favored the 
establishment of numerous monasteries, some 
of which possess large temples. There are 
forty of these sacred edifices, two of which 
are devoted to the ancient national worship, 
another, more than two hundred feet in 
length, to the Buddhist faith, and another 
dedicated to the Five Hundred Genii. 

One of the monasteries is celebrated for 
engaging, twice a year, all the chief wrestlers 
jf Tokio, who give a series of public perform- 
ances — a pious speculation, which never fails 
to attract to the great lawn in front of the 
monastery an enormous crowd, made up of 
all cla^ er of society. Thus, each temple or 
monastery has its own form of advertisement, 
and is distinguished by some singularity — 
such as the avenue of statues of pigs, each 
nobly installed on a pedestal of granite, 
which we find on approaching one of the 
temples. Public opinion appears to accept 
without difficulty whatever device may be 
pleasing to the bonzes, without regard to its 
character. 

Picturesque Scene. 

A certain number of families of the old 
nobility have made of the Hondjo a sort of 
retreat, where they live in a profound retire- 
ment, far from the noises of the city and 
protected from contact with the world of the 
court, and the officers of the government. 
There, the walls of the Castle no longer 
offend the eyes of the fierce Daimio. From 
the summits of the bridges arched over the 
canals, the grand alleys of trees seen over the 
innumerable roofs of the merchant city, 
resemble the peaceful shades of some distant 
park. 

There are many workshops of sculpture 
in the Hondjo. I have never seen the art- 
ists working in marble, although there are 
quarries of it in the mountains of the interior. 



The pedestals of idols are made of granite, 
the candelabra of the sacred places, tombs, 
statuettes, Buddhist saints and holy foxes of 
a very sandstone. 

The wood-carvers make domestic altars of 
rich network, elegant caskets, elephants' 
heads and monstrous chimeras for the roofs 
of temples, woodwork and mosaics repre- 
senting cranes, geese, bats, mythologic 
animals, the moon half veiled by a cloud, 
branches of cedars, pines, bamboos and 
palms. The idols, frequently of gigantic 
size, which are made in the workshops of 
Tokio, are generally surrounded by an 
aureole gilded and painted in lively colors : 
the guardians of heaven, for example, in 
vermilion, and others in indigo. 

Brilliant Flowers. 

Several interesting branches of industry 
are connected with that of the ebony- 
carvers. The frame-work of movable presses 
or screens is required to be ornamented with 
large drawings in India ink, executed by a 
few strokes of the pencil, or groups of trees 
and flowers of brilliant colors, or paintings 
of birds selected for the brilliance of their 
plumage. All this is done by hand in the 
workshops. 

The embroidresses furnish for the fire- 
screens and curtains exquisite works, where 
the silk, under the patient labor of the 
needle, reproduces, according to the choice 
of subjects, the lustrous texture of leaves, 
the velvet down of birds, the tufted fur of 
animals, or the shining scales of fishes. Then 
the braiders of silk floss add to the luxury 
of the woodwork a decoration of garlands 
and knots of various colors, surmounted by 
groups of flowers and birds. 

The obi, a girdle which is worn by all 
adult Japanese women, married or single, 
with the exception of the ladies of princely 



SHOPS AND INDUSTRIES OF TOKIO. 



99 



families, is the article of feminine costume 
which presents the most variety, according 
to the taste or fancy of individuals. Some- 
times it is very simple, sometimes remark- 
able for the richness of the stuff or the splen- 
dor of the embroideries. It is generally 
broad enough to serve at the same time as 
girdle and corset. 

It is wound around the body like a band- 
age, and fastened at the back by interlacing 
the ends so as to produce a large, flat fur- 



paper. On the other hand, I have always 
found both the wholesale and retail shops 
accessible even to the rear chamber, where 
one should never refuse to penetrate ; for 
the Japanese merchant takes no trouble to 
display his stock. He prefers to keep his 
best goods in reserve, as if to give his pur- 
chasers the satisfaction of discovering them. 
In order to form a tolerable idea of the 
richness, the variety and the artistic merit of 
Japanese industry, we must not only traverse 










JAPANESE SHOP. 



below, falling on the hips, or floating with a 
graceful negligence. A widow, who has 
determined not to marry again, knots the 
obi in front, and the same arrangement is 
adopted for female corpses. 

It is not an easy thing to penetrate into 
the Japanese workshops, especially under 
the surveillance of a squad of Yakounines. 
In spite of the promises of the latter, I was 
not able to see either the process of coloring 
or the manufacture of rich silk stuffs or of 



the commercial streets frequented by the 
natives, but also imitate the latter in return 
ing day by day to the same merchant, until 
we have explored every corner of his shop. 
This is the more necessary, since there is no 
general bazaar, each magazine or shop hav- 
ing its specialty. 

Certain forms of industry are as yet but 
little developed, among others saddlery, 
which will be discouraged as long as a relig- 
ious prejudice exists against tanners and 



100 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



curriers. Nevertheless, I noticed in Tokio 
a great variety of articles of leather, such as 
trunks and travelling satchels, portfolios, 
money bags, tobacco-pouches ana hunting- 
gloves, all of native manufacture. 

Whatever may be the variety of industrial 
products displayed in the shops of the com- 
mercial city there is one feature which char- 
acterizes all of ihem, one common stamp 
which denotes their place among the works 
of the far East, and I venture to call it, with- 
out fear of contradiction, good taste. 

The artisan of Tokio is a veritable artist. 
If we except the conventional style to which 
he still feels himself compelled to submit, in 
his representations of the human figure, if 
we overlook the insufficiency of his knowl- 
edge of the rules of perspective, we shall 
have only praise left for him in all other re- 
spects 

Subjects for Art. 

His works are distinguished from those of 
Miako by the simplicity of his forms, the 
severity of the lines, the sobriety of the de- 
corations and the exquisite feeling for nature 
which he exhibits in all subjects of ornamen- 
tation drawn from the vegetable or animal 
kingdom. These are his favorite subjects ; 
dowers and birds have the power of inspir- 
ing him with compositions which are charm- 
ing in their truth, grace and harmony. In 
regard to perfection of execution, the works 
produced in both capitals are equally ad- 
mirable. 

Let us pause before a magazine of objects 
of art and industry, among the curious of 
both sexes and of all ages, who never cease 
to gather together under the covered gallery 
where the stores are displayed. They con- 
template with a naive admiration the great 
aquaria of blue or white porcelain, where 
red fish float in the limpid water over beds 



of shells. These are objects of endless 
amusement and curiosity. 

In the centre, three or four selected plants 
combine in a picturesque group the beauty 
of their colors and the graceful outlines of 
their leaves and flowers. Nothing of these 
combination is ever left to chance : every 
day the gardener's hand directs the work of 
nature, keeps it within limits and governs 
the growth. 

What is still more remarkable, the Japa- 
nese fancy never runs into those aberrations 
which in China and elsewhere, outrage 
Nature by cutting trees into geometrical 
figures, or training shrubs into the shapes of 
animals. The taste of the Japanese in their 
popular arts, remaining independent of the 
conventional influences of their two courts, 
has all the freshness of a naturally expand- 
ing civilization. Therefore, it is still char- 
acterized by a certain puerility : witness the 
truly childish passion of all classes of 
society for enormous flowers and dwarf 
trees. 

A Miniature Landscape. 

I have seen aquaria, not much larger 
than ordinary, where they succeeded in 
uniting the features of a complete landscape 
— a lake, islands, rocks, a cabin on the 
shore, and hills with real woods on their 
summits, of living bamboos and cedars in 
miniature. They even sometimes add lilipu- 
tian figures, coming and going, by means of 
a spring which is wound up. 

This sort of childishness is found in a 
multitude of the details of Japanese life. 
Sometimes a porcelain junk is set before a 
dinner party : it is taken to pieces and 
proves to be a unique and complete tea-set. 
Often, part of the repast is served in cups so 
minute, and porcelain so fine, light, and trans- 
parent, that one hardly dares to touch it. 




M 
O 
H 

H 

Pi 
O 

w 

en 



Pi 
<! 
o 
w 

H 
O 
Ph 

< 



102 



There are cups, called egg-shells, so delicate 
that they must be protected by a fine en- 
velope of bamboo netting; 

The saloons are adorned with bird and 
butterfly cages, crowned with vases of flow- 
ers, whence depend climbing plants which 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 

teresting curiosities of native art. Some pre- 
sent the appearance of great bazaars, dis- 
playing all articles of saddlery and harness, 
as well as complete suits of armor, and 
cooking utensils of iron, copper, or tin, 
beside the bronze objects. 



cause the birds to appear as if nestling in 
verdure. Under the paper lanterns sus- 
pended from the ceilings of the verandas, 
there are often bells of colored glass, the 
long, slender clapper cf metal supported by 
a silk thread, or slip of colored or gilded 
paper. At the least movement of the breeze 
these bands of paper move, the metallic 
tongues swing and touch the glass bells, and 
their vibrations make a vague melody, like 
the sound of an ^Eolian harp. 

Necklaces of Stone. 

I saw at Tokio some attempts at painting 
on glass, and some works in enamel, which 
exhibited good intentions rather than skill. 
I might mention, however, among the native 
curiosities which are truly original, those 
little balls of stone, pierced, cut in facets and 
covered with enameled arabesques, which 
strangers buy for necklaces. The art of 
gilding is still but partially developed. 

The narratives of the old Dutch embas- 
sies seem to have greatly exaggerated the 
richness of decoration of the palaces and 
furniture of the Mikado and the Tycoon. 
The luxury of the Japanese has an artistic 
rather than a sumptuous character. The 
pride of the old princes of the empire is in 
the antiquity of their arms or furniture. 
Nothing has more value in their eyes than 
an assorted service of old porcelain, natur- 
ally cracked, or vases of ancient bronze, 
heavy, black and polished as marble. 

Tokio is the city where metals are worked 
to the greatest extent. The bronze estab- 
lishments of the city are among the most in- 



Altars for Perfumes. 

The latter contain many things belonging 
to Buddhist worship, such as richly-chased 
bells, drums, gongs, vases for the altar, 
crowns of lotus flowers, or vessels to hold 
bouquets of natural flowers. There are also 
altars for perfumes, resting on tripods, statues 
and statuettes of saints, and such sacred 
animals as the crane, stork, tortoise, and the 
fantastic Corean dog. 

Next to the master-pieces of bronze and 
of porcelain, the triumph of Japanese indus- 
try is in the fabrication of furniture and 
utensils of lacquered wood. Such is the 
talent' with which the native artisans utilize 
the incomparable Japan varnish, the produce 
of the shrub which bears that name; such is 
their skill in combining its effects with the 
results of their decorative art, that articles 
of furniture constructed of a material which 
is almost valueless, finally rival in beauty, 
and almost in durability, those which we 
make of marble and precious metals. 

The ebony workers of Tokio imitate works 
in old lacquer so closely that only an expe- 
rienced eye can detect the difference. In the 
interior decoration of cabinets, boxes or cas- 
kets of modern taste, they generally used 
lacquer of a brown color, sprinkled with 
flakes of gold. On the outside the lacquer 
is uniform, either red, brown or black, with 
ornamental drawing in two or three tints. 

The principal large objects made of lac- 
quered wood are the norimons (palanquins) 
and travelling trunks of nobles, wardrobes, 
toilet tables and the pedestals of mirrors for 



SHOPS AND INDUSTRIES OF TOKIO. 



10.3 



ladies; receptacles for the books and scrolls 
of a library; and finally, different articles 
employed in public or private worship, such 
as pulpits, offering-tables, censer-stands, tri- 
pods for gongs and pedestals for various 
purposes. 

Among the toilet articles there are several 
boxes, which vary in form and ornament 
according to their use, as for brushes, tooth- 
powder, rouge, rice-powder and other cos- 
metics; for combs, hair-pins, and, alas! for 
false braids of hair. 

The other accessories of the feminine 
boudoir are, a large oval watering-pot, 
covered with black lacquer, sown with 
golden flowers; then a long box for pipes 
and tobacco, and finally a casket for letters, 
prudently bound by two silk cords, knotted 
in a way of which the owner alone knows 
the secret. There are other boxes of an 
oblong form, which are usually taken in 
Europe for gloves; but the Japanese only 
employ them in order to send letters of con- 
gratulation, or thanks, in a more polite way. 

The Common Drink. 

The liquor saki, the serving of which is 
the most ceremonious part of a Japanese 
banquet, is solemnly brought to the guests 
in large lacquered pots, or long metal cans, 
on a bamboo tray. It is then heated in ves- 
sels of porcelain. The cups, large or small, 
are of fine red lacquer, ornamented with fancy 
designs. There are collections of these 
charming cups, each one of which represents 
a celebrated landscape of Japan, or one of 
the principal cities on the Toka'ido connect- 
ing the two capitals. Some hosts, of a more 
sumptuous taste, invite the guests to drink 
from nautilus shells, mounted in silver fila- 
gree. 

At the upper end of the street of Niphon- 
bassi we come upon a barber's shop, in which 



two or three citizens, in the simplest apparel, 
are making their morning toilet. Seated 
upon a stool, they gravely hold in the left 
hand a lacquered tray, destined to receive 
the soapsuds. The barbers, free from all 
clothing which could trammel the freedom 
of their movements, lean sometimes to the 
right and sometimes to the left of their cus- 
tomers' heads, over which they pass both 
the hand and the razor, like antique sculp- 
tors modelling cariatides. I need hardly add 
that the illusion ceases when, holding be- 
tween their teeth a long silken cord, they 
roll it round and tie it at each end, leaving 
the pudding-like ball which forms the Jap- 
anese headdress. 

Wooden Soles and Sandals. 

At a little distance we find a shoemaker's 
shop. It is adorned with innumerable 
wooden soles and numberless wooden san- 
dals, which hang from the roof by long 
ropes of the same material. The shoe- 
maker, squatting on his shelf, reminds me 
of the native idol to whom the beggars make 
presents of sandals. Many persons of both 
sexes stop before the shop-front, examining 
or trying on the merchandise, exchanging 
some amicable phrase with the shoemaker, 
and, without disturbing him from his quietude, 
lay the price at his feet. 

Next to the shoemaker's came the shop of 
a dealer in edible seaweed, which forms one 
of the principal articles of export trade be- 
tween Japan and China. This seaweed is 
called tang, and is found in great floating 
masses in all the bays of the insular Empire. 
When the sea is calm, its rich golden purple 
and olive tints are distinctly seen through 
the still surface of the blue water. By means 
of a boatman's hook the fishermen draw it 
through the sea like an immense net, load 
their boats with it, and clean it carefully, col- 



104 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



lecting the little shells which cling to it in 
immense numbers. 

When the cargo has been landed, it is 
dried in the sun, and then formed into bun- 
dles tied with bands of straw, or in small 
parcels wrapped up in paper ; the former are 
for exportation, and are sold by weight to 
the junks; the others are sold by the packet 



class of radiates are sold in a dry state. They 
are eaten fried, and most frequently cut into 
pieces mingled with rice. One sort of fish, 
very thin, long, and narrow, is simply dried 
in the sun, and eaten without any further 
cooking. Oysters are abundant, but coarse. 
The Japanese have no method of opening 
them except by breaking the upper valve 




A JAPANESE NOBLE PASSING THROUGH THE STREETS OF TOKIO. 



for a few szenis, and are to be bought either 
in the market or the eating-houses. 

At Tokio there is an immense consump- 
tion of shell-fish: the dealer fills his tubs, into 
which he shakes and turns them about with 
long bamboo sticks, after which he sets forth, 
crying his wares. Sea-leeches, and all sorts 
•f little molluscs, the trepang, and the whole 



with a stone, yet such is their dexterity that 
this rude method answers the purpose. 

Although the Japanese profess, from an 
aesthetic point of view, a profound disgust 
for shell-fish, they do not seem to disdain 
them when they are fried and laid out on 
herbs and colored paper. Delicacies of this 
sort have a great sale in the public markets. 



SHOPS AND INDUSTRIES OF TOKIO. 



105 



The shops of the grain-dealers at Tokio 
are very interesting, from the immense quan- 
tity and the infinite variety of the products, 
the diversity of their forms and colors, and 
the art with which they are ranged upon the 
shelves. But surprise and admiration suc- 
ceed to curiosity when we perceive that on 
each of the parcels already done up in paper, 
on each of the bags ready to be delivered, is 
a colored drawing of the plants themselves, 
together with the name of the grain. 

This drawing is often a little masterpiece, 
which might figure in an album of the flora 
of Japan. Presently we see the painter and 
the workshop. The painter is a young girl, 
who lies at full length on mats covered with 
flowers and sheets of paper, and works in- 
cessantly in this singular attitude. 

The Fish-Market. 

As we approach the central bridge of the 
commercial city the crowd increases, and on 
both sides of the street shops give place to 
popular restaurants, and confectioners, where 
cakes, rice, and millet are sold, and where 
hot tea and saki may be purchased. 

We are close to the great fish-market. 
The canal is covered with fishing-boats, 
either discharging their cargo of both sea 
and river fish — great fish of the ocean cur- 
rents which come down from the Pole, and 
those of the equatorial stream, tortoises and 
mussels from the gulfs of Niphon, hideous 
jelly-fish and fantastic crustaceae. In this 
place have been reckoned seventy different 
kinds of fish, crabs, and mollusca, and 
twenty-six sorts of mussels and other shell- 
fish. ' 

Fish-sheds, roughly put up near the land- 
ing-place, are besieged by buyers. In the 
middle of the tumultuous crowd we see 
strong arms lifting full baskets and emptying 
them into the lacquered cases of the coolies. 



From time to time the crowd has to open, 
to give passage to two coolies laden with a 
dolphin, a shark, or a porpoise, suspended 
by ropes on a bamboo pole, which they carry 
on their shoulders. The Japanese boil the 
flesh of all these animals, and salt the whole 
blubber. 

One of the strangest pictures in the en- 
virons of Niphon-bassi is a group of shark 




HIGHLY FIGURED JAPANESE VASE. 

and whale sellers, wholesale and retail. The 
stature, the dress, and the gestures of these 
personages, their fantastic equipment, the 
dimensions of the huge knives which they 
plunge into the sides of the sea monsters, 
suggest the prodigious exercise of human 
strength and employment of the resources of 
nature, which can alone suffice for the supply 
of the great city. 

Wooden tubs and jars, filled with water 



106 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



and ranged in pyramids, are placed at inter- 
vals on the thresholds of the warehouses, 
and on the edge of the public pathways. 
These precautionary measures are taken in 
all the populous streets of Tokio, and gener- 
ally in all Japanese cities. Reservoirs of 
water occupy the upper galleries and roofs 
of the houses. Long and strong ladders 
are planted against the great wooden build- 
ings, such as temples and pagodas. 

Precautions Against Fire. 

Stores, known in the commercial language 
of the Far East under the name of godowns, 
are said to be fireproof. 

They are multiplied as much as possible in 
the wooden quarters, so as to present numer- 
ous obstacles to the spread of fire. These 
square, high buildings are constructed of 
stone, and covered outside with a thick layer 
of whitewash. Their doors and shutters are 
of iron, and from the four walls great hooks 
stick out, from which wet mats and mat- 
tresses may be hung when there is imminent 
danger. 

The godowns, the ladders, and the tubs 
do not contribute to the embellishment of the 
capital. In this, as in other details of Japa- 
nese life, the beautiful is sacrificed to the 
useful, and visitors must just make the best 
of the charming accidental views which 
occur in this city. Its religious buildings 
would render it exceedingly beautiful, were 
not its chief sites occupied by the endless 
lines of warehouses. 

Pursuing our route from street to street, 
we look into the interior of the houses, with 
hardly any interruption from the sliding 
panels, and see the picturesque groups of 
men, women, and children squatting round 
their humble dinners. The straw table-cloth 
is laid on the mats which cover the floor ; in 
the centre is a large woo^n bowl containing 



rice, which forms the principal food of every 
class of Japanese society. 

Each guest attacks the common dish, and 
takes out enough to pile up a great China 
cup, from which he eats without the aid of 
the little stick which serves him for a fork, 
except just for the last few mouthfuls, to 
which he adds a scrap of fish, crab, or fowl, 
taken from the numerous plates which sur- 
round the centre bowl. 

These viands are seasoned with sea-salt, 
pepper, and soy — a very strong sauce made 
from black beans by a process of fermenta- 
tion ; eggs, soft and hard, fresh or preserved; 
boiled vegetables, such as turnips, carrots, 
and sweet potatoes, slices of young twigs of 
bamboo, or a salad of lotus bulbs, complete 
the bill of fare of a Japanese citizen's dinner. 

Domestic Utensils. 

The meal is invariably accompanied by 
tea and saki, and these two beverages are 
ordinarily drank hot, without any other 
liquid, and without sugar. The teapots 
which contain them stand upon a brasier 
shaped like a casket ; it is a little larger than 
another corresponding article of furniture 
called a tobacco-bon, on which coal, a pipe- 
rack, and a supply of tobacco are placed 

I have never examined the pretty utensils 
used at a Japanese table — the bowls, cups, 
saucers, boxes, lacquered trays, vases of 
porcelain, jugs and teapots in glazed earthen- 
ware — nor have I ever contemplated the 
people while eating, seen the grace of their 
movements, and watched the dexterity of 
their delicate little hands, without fancying 
I was looking on at a number of grown-up 
children playing at housekeeping, and eating 
rather for their amusement than because they 
were hungry. 

Maladies resulting from excess or from 
unwholesome diet, are generally unknown, 



SHOPS AND INDUSTRIES OF TOKIO. 



107 



jut the immoderate use of their national 
beverage sometimes produces grave results. 
I have seen more than one case of delirium 
tremens. 

The ravages caused by dysentery and 
cholera in certain parts of Japan, especially 
at Tokio, will cause no surprise to the 
European resident, who has seen how greedily 
children and the lower classes of the people 
devour watermelons, limes, Siam oranges, 
and all sorts of fruits at the beginning of the 
autumn, before they are fully ripe. 

Unwholesome Water. 

Japanese houses are rarely supplied with 
really wholesome water, because ; even at 
Tokio, where springs are abundant, they use 
only cisterns, though it would be easy to 
establish fountains in every quarter in the 
town. The inconvenience and danger of this 
state of things are, however, reduced, by the 
fact that the Japanese are in the habit of 
using hot drinks in all seasons. 

Their popular hygiene demands hot baths, 
which they take every day. This extreme 
cleanliness, the salubrity of their climate, and 
the excellent qualities of their diet, aid in 
making the Japanese one of the healthiest 
and one of the most robust of peoples. 
There are, however, very few of them who 
do not suffer from diseases of the skin, and 
from chronic and incurable maladies, which 
are not to be traced to their natural condi- 
tions. This great misfortune dates from the 
epoch at which the government of the Sho- 
guns authorized the foundation and officially 
protected the development of a disgraceful 
institution, whose fatal consequences sap the 
entire edifice of society. 

There are a great number of physicians 
in Japan, principally at Tokio. The mem- 
bers of the medical body who are neither 
functionaries nor officers have generally been 



educated at the University of Kioto or that 
of Tokio ; but some of them, who belong to 
families where the medical profession has 
been followed from father to son, have 
received an education under the paternal 
roof. 

As no examinations are required for the 
practice of medicine, each man enters the 
profession when he pleases, and practices 
according to his own fancy ; some healing 
by the routine of the native empirics, others 
treating their patients according to the rules 
of Chinese science, a third claiming to be 
adepts in Dutch medicine; but in reality 
they have actually neither method nor 
system. University studies in Japan are 
exceedingly superficial. It cannot be other- 
wise in a country where no one possesses 
the preparatory knowledge, which is taken 
for granted on entering upon a University 
course. 

Passion to have Doctors. 

This state of things can only be reformed 
by frequent contact with Europeans, and 
already is fast disappearing. The people, 
however, do not care about it. All they 
want is to have a number of doctors at their 
disposal ; to be treated and physicked rather 
upon these conjoint methods than upon the 
best, supposing it to exist ; in fact, to find in 
their physicians pleasant servants, who will 
not contradict the notions of their patients, 
and who scrupulously justify the confidence 
with which their profession is honored. 
This obliges them to adopt a certain 
demeanor which impresses the public, and 
sets them apart from the rest of society. 

Japanese medical practitioners may be 
easily recognized by their dress, by their 
methodical demeanor, and some other pecu- 
liarities, which vary according to the fancy 
of these grave personages. I have seen one 



108 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



whose head was shaved like that of a bonze, 
or of an Imperial doctor, though he certainly- 
belonged to a physician of the third class. 
I have seen others wearing their hair long 
and plaited, the ends coiled upon their neck, 
and others with a profuse beard. 

Their middle class extraction not permit- 
ting them to wear two swords, they wear 
one, passed through the folds of their girdle ; 
but it is always a very small one, and gener- 
ally carefully wrapped up in crape or velvet. 
Certain members of the faculty take care 
never to show themselves in public un- 
attended by a koskei carrying their instru- 
ment case and medicines. 

Not Paid in Money. 

Many doctors command public esteem 
and enjoy uncontested respect. I have heard 
it said, that when they are sent for to aristo- 
cratic houses they are paid by those senti- 
ments rather than in money. It is well 
known that the greater number — even those 
who possess an extensive connection — can 
hardly live ; for the citizens' families gener- 
ally find at the end of the year, when they 
have met their indispensable expenses — 
housekeeping, annual fetes, the theatre, the 
baths, the bonzes, and the parties of pleasure 
— that they have very little left to give to the 
doctor. 

The latter, on his side, accepts the situa- 
tion with philosophy, and it must be added 
to his credit, that he is generally a truly 
disinterested person. Many possess real 
scientific zeal, and a taste for the observation 
of nature which might produce remarkable 
results if these qualities rested upon a solid 
basis or sufficient preparatory instruction. 
There is no doubt that the medical fraternity 
is one of the most energetic agents of pro- 
gress and civilization in Japan. 

This fraternity is one of a Corporation of 



arts and professions which enjoys an official 
constitution and certain privileges. It was 
placed by the Mikado under the invocation 
of a holy patron called Yakousi, and is evi- 
dently of great antiquity. We learn from 
the Imperial annals of Kioto that the first 
Japanese pharmacy was founded in 730, that 
in the year 808 medical science was enriched 
by a collection of recipes published in one 
hundred volumes by Doctor Firo-Sada, and 
that the year 825 endowed the Empire with 
its first hospital. 

For a long time Japan was tributary to 
China in all that concerns medical science, 
as well as in the other branches of human 
knowledge. The Celestial Empire supplied 
it with works on anatomy and botanical 
treatises, books and recipes, as well as pro- 
fessors, medical practitioners, and ready- 
made medicines for curing an infinity of ail- 
ments. In the second half of the eleventh 
century, the Chinese merchant Wangman 
made a fortune by selling medicines and 
parrots in Japan. 

Mysterious Signs. 

At that time the resources of art were 
added to the secrets of magic. In the pres- 
ent day the successors of the early practi- 
tioners in this line carry about kirimons 
covered with cabalistic signs through the 
towns and villages. These kirimons, placed 
at an opportune moment upon the body of 
a patient, have the power of recalling a dead 
man to life. The monks, on their side, know 
prayers of a sacramental kind which stop 
bleeding, heal wounds, exorcise insects, cure 
burns and counteract the evil eye, in the case 
of men and animals. So it is supposed. 

Two great events, of which one occurred 
at the beginning and the other at the end of 
the seventeenth century, prevented the scien- 
tific labors of *he medical fraternity from 



SHOPS AND INDUSTRIES OF TOKIO. 



109 



being shrouded by degrees in the great 
darkness of Buddhist superstition. The 
first was the arrival of the Dutch, who re- 
ceived their letters of franchise and inaugu- 
rated their factory at Firado under the 
direction of the superintendent, Van Specx, 
in the year 1609; and the second was the 
foundation of the University of Tokio, which 
took place in 1690. 

Thunberg recounts that, towards the mid- 
dle of the following century, he, being at 
Tokio as attache to the biennial embassy 
from the Dutch superintendent of Decima, 
obtained permission from the Shogun to 
receive a visit from five physicians and two 
astronomers attached to the Court; he had 
long conversations with them, and convinced 
himself from the observations of the former 
that they had derived their knowledge of 
natural history, physics, medicine and sur- 
gery, not only from the traditional Chinese 
sources, but from Dutch works. 

At a later date, the physicians of the fac- 



tory, having been authorized to take pupils, 
strove, with great zeal and devotion, to im- 
part to them the medical science of the 
West. 

If the judgment of civilized peoples were 
not distorted by the manner in which they 
are taught history — if they had learned that 
science has its honors as well as war — they 
would look with admiration upon the peace- 
ful conquests which have been made in the 
Empire of Japan, to the advantage of the 
whole world, by the physicians of the fac- 
tory at Decima since the time of Kaempfer 
to the present day. 

Hondjo, properly so called, answers in 
some respects to the industrial quarters of 
our great cities. It contains manufactories 
of tiles and of coarse pottery, kitchen utensils 
in iron, paper factories, and workshops for 
the cleaning and preparation of cotton, for 
the weaving of cotton and silk fabrics, dyeing 
vats, weavers' shops, basket makers and mat 
plaiters. 



CHAPTER VII. 
POPULAR JAPANESE CUSTOMS. 



CHINESE civilization, possesses 
nothing which resembles the 
beneficient institution of a day 
of rest recurring regularly after 
a certain series of working days. There 
are monthly festivals, by which the working 
classes commonly profit very little, and an 
entire week, the first of the year, during 
which all labor is suspended, and the popu- 
lation give themselves up to the amusements 
within their reach, each person choosing 
them according to his social position and the 
resources at his disposal. This is true, in 
the main, of Japan. 

The citizens of Tokio, the artisans, the 
manufacturers, the Japanese tradesmen in 
general, lived until the arrival of the Eu- 
ropeans, under the most exceptional economic 
conditions in the world. They worked only 
for the internal supply of a country highly 
favored by nature, sufficiently large and 
sufficiently cultivated to supply all its own 
needs; for centuries they had enjoyed the 
pleasures of an easy and simple life. This 
is no longer the case. I witnessed the last 
days of the age of innocence, in which, with 
the exception of some great merchants whom 
fortune had obstinately pursued with its 
ravors, no one worked except to live, and no 
one lived except to enjoy existence. 

Work itself had a place in the category of 
the purest and deepest enjoyments. The 
artisan had a passion for his work, and, far 
from counting the hours, the days, the weeks, 
which he gave to it, it was with reluctance 
that he drew himself away from it till he had 
110 



at length brought it — not to a certain salable 
value, which was less the object of his care — 
but to that state of perfection which satisfied 
him. If he were tired, he left his workshop 
and rested himself for as long or as short a 
time as he pleased, either in his house, or in 
company with his friends at some place of 
amusement. 

There was not a Japanese dwelling of the 
middle classes without its little garden, a 
sacred asylum for solitude, for the siesta, for 
amusing reading, for line fishing, or for long 
libations of tea and saki. 

Surroundings of Tokio. 

The hills on the south, west, and north of 
the citadel, are rich in pretty valleys and 
grottos, springs and ponds, all utilized in the 
most ingenious manner by the small pro- 
prietors. If nature has not isolated the 
family residence by means of hedges or 
natural palisades of bamboo covered with 
climbing plants, industry supplies the defi- 
ciency. When the garden is approached 
from the street, a rustic bridge is thrown 
across the canal before the door, and hidden 
with tufts of trees and thick-leaved shrubs. 

On crossing the threshold, the visitor 
might believe himself to be in a virgin forest 
far from all human habitations. Blocks of 
stone, negligently arranged as steps, help 
him to mount the hill, and suddenly, when 
he has reached the summit, a delightful 
spectacle lies at his feet. Below the flower- 
covered rocks is a gracefully formed pond, 
its banks adorned with lotus, iris, and water- 



POPULAR JAPANESE CUSTOMS. 



Ill 



lilies ; a little wooden bridge crosses it. The 
path descends through groves of tufted bam- 
boos, azaleas, dwarf palms, and camellias; 
then through beautiful groups of tiny pines 
which hide the ivy-covered rocks, and along 
hillsides enamelled with flowers, amid which 
the lily lifts its white crown above the dwarf 
shrubs, which are cut into fantastic forms. 

This scene, when beheld from the bottom 
of the valley, offers an equally harmonious 
combination of form and color. There is 
nothing to excite particular attention, but 
the whole landscape and all its details wrap 
the mind in calm, and leave it no other im- 
pression than the vague pleasure of perfect 
rest. 

Although the Japanese delight on occa- 
sion to plunge themselves into a condition 
which closely approaches the physical insen- 
sibility and ideal annihilation recommended 
by Buddhism, they do not systematically 
indulge in it. The spirit of order presides 
ever their daily conduct, and regulates their 
hygienic practices. 

Custom of Bathing. 

Among the latter the bath holds the first 
place. In addition to their morning ablu- 
tions, the Japanese, of every age and of both 
sexes, take a hot bath every day. They re- 
main from five to thirty minutes in the water, 
sometimes plunged up to the shoulders, some- 
times only up to the waist, according as they 
lie down or squat; and during all the time 
they take the greatest care to avoid wetting 
the head. It not unfrequently happens that 
congestion of the brain, and even apoplexy, 
is the result of this unreasonable habit. 

A custom which has become a daily need, 
and is practised by all classes of an enormous 
population, could not be in any sense private. 
A tacit agreement has therefore been estab- 
lished in Japan which places the bath, from 



the point of view, of public morals, in the 
category of indifferent actions, neither more 
nor less than sleeping, walking out, and 
drinking. As the superior classes of society 
have dormitories and dining-rooms, so each 
house belonging to the nobility or the upper 
ranks of the citizens has one or two bath- 
rooms reserved for domestic use; and there 
is no small citizen's dwelling without some 
little room where a bath, with its heating 
apparatus, may be found. 

Rush for the Bath-I louses. 

When the bath is ready, the entire family 
profit by it in succession; first the father, 
then the mother, then the children andall the 
household servants included. Nevertheless, 
the common bath is rarely used, because the 
expense of the fuel which it would involve 
would be much greater than the expense of 
a family subscription to the public baths. 
Accordingly, the majority of the population 
regularly use the latter. They are to be 
found in every street of a certain import- 
ance, and everywhere they are so crowded, 
especially during the two last hours of the 
day, that it has become absolutely necessary 
to allow the bathers to bathe in community. 

There are generally two reservoirs, sepa- 
rated by a low iron or wooden bridge, and 
sufficiently spacious to receive from twelve 
to twenty bathers at a time. The women 
and children collect on one side, and the 
men on the other; but without prejudice to 
the leading principle that every new-comer 
shall install himself where he finds a place, 
no matter who may be the previous occu- 
pant. The proprietor squats upon a plat- 
form, from which he can observe the persons 
who come in, and who pay in passing. Some- 
times the proprietor smokes, and sometimes 
he reads romances to amuse himself. 

The national law which regulates the 



112 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



public baths extends beyond the threshold 
of these establishments, — that is to say, if 
the bathers of either sex wish to take the air 
on the pavement outside, they are respect- 
ively regarded as partaking of the benefit of 
the accepted fiction ; and more than that, it 
shelters them to their own dwelling, when it 
is their pleasure to proceed thither with the 
fine lobster-color which they have brought 
out of the hot water intact. 

Crude Forms of Art. 

However strange this custom may appear 
to us, no Japanese, before the arrival of the 
Europeans, supposed that it could have a 
reprehensible side. On the contrary, it was 
in perfect harmony with the rules of domestic 
life, and irreproachable from the moral point 
of view. 

Many singularities find explanation in the 
fact that the Japanese have decidedly no 
pretension to plastic beauty. Nothing is 
more characteristic in this respect than the 
manner in which the native painters draw 
the heroes and heroines of their stories of 
love and war. In a little while, however, 
Japan will be under the influence of the 
Japanese who have visited Europe and 
America, and especially those who have 
made a prolonged sojourn in these coun- 
tries. If the comparison which they insti- 
tute between the two civilizations does not 
induce them to recommend the adoption of 
ours in its lesser details, we may be quite 
sure that they will reform all such national 
customs as have provoked the ridicule of 
foreigners. 

Several of the great public baths of Tokio 
have added modern therapeutic inventions, 
such as douches of hot and cold water, to 
the ordinary resources of these establish- 
ments. 

The physicians of the opulent classes of 



society are always certain to win the good 
graces of their patients by recommending 
them to try a cure in one of the mountain 
districts famous for the efficacy of their 
waters. There are some particularly cele- 
brated in the island of Kiousiou, at the foot 
of the volcanoes of Aso and Wounsentake. 
The thermal springs which are found there 
are, generally speaking, sulphurous and very 
hot. They are used in rheumatic affections 
and skin diseases. 

It has not yet occurred to the mind of the 
Japanese to enhance the charms of the bath- 
ing season by the attraction of pastimes. 
Games of chance are disdained by everyone 
in good society. Cards are left to servants 
and coolies, and these are not permitted to 
play for money. 

The Medicine Case. 

The small tradesman does not trouble 
himself to goto the thermal baths; when 
doctors do not seem to be doing him any 
good, he prefers to undertake a pilgrimage. 
He is not, however, without his own notions 
about medicine. According to him the 
latent cause of all the disturbance of the 
human machine resides in the more or less 
ill-regulated action of the internal vapors ; 
apparently those of which Sganarelle speaks, 
"the vapors formed of the exhalations of the 
influences which arise from the region of the 
malady." The daily baths, no doubt, con- 
tribute to disengage and to dissolve them. 

If, however, some unexpected indisposi- 
tion arises during the hours of work or of 
recreation, it is good to have a little medi- 
cine case at hand, and, therefore, he wears it 
hanging from his girdle, on the same bunch 
of strings with his pipe and his tobacco bag. 
But if the noxious gas resists the powders 
and the pills in his little box, he must have 
recourse to cautery. This does not abso- 



POPULAR JAPANESE CUSTOMS. 



113 



lutely demand the intervention of the sur- 
geon. Every well-arranged household has 
its supply of the little cones of mugwort with 
which moxas are applied, and every good 
housewife ought to know what are the por- 
tions of the body to burn according to the 
symptoms of the malady : as, for example, 
the shoulders in indigestion, stomach com- 
plaints, and loss of appetite ; the vertebrae 
in attacks of pleurisy, the muscles of the 
thumb in a case of toothache, and so on. 

Puncturing With Needles. 

Such is the reputation of the moxa among 
the Japanese people, that it is frequently 
used as a preventive, and even at fixed times 
once or twice a year. A sovereign remedy 
against cholic consists in making six or nine 
deep incisions, by means of fine needles of 
gold or silver, in the abdominal region. 

As in certain countries in Europe, there 
exists a class of quacks who add teethdraw- 
ing to the barber's profession, and who put 
on leeches and blisters, so Japan possesses a 
whole host of subaltern surgeons specially 
devoted to the practice of cautery and other 
empirical remedies. They are called Ten- 
sasi, or "men who punish," in reference to 
their preliminary operations. Whatever 
talent they may display in their various 
functions, they are never permitted to add 
shampooing — a kind of treatment much re- 
sorted to in Japan in cases of nervous irrita- 
tion or rheumatic affections. 

The reason for this exclusion was told me 
by a shopkeeper, at whose house I witnessed 
a spectacle which at first sight I could not 
understand. A woman, lying on her left 
side at full length upon the mats in the back 
shop, was patiently bearing the weight of a 
big fellow, who was kneading her shoulders 
with both hands. "Is that your wife?" 
said I to the shopkeeper. He made an 
Ja.-8 



affirmative sign, and then placing his thumb 
and middle finger of his left hand upon his 
two eyelids, showed me that the operator 
was blind, and went on to inform me that the 
laws of society among the Japanese limited 
the office of shampooers to men deprived of 
sight. 

I remembered to have met blind men in 
the street carefully feeling for the footway, a 
rough staff in their right hand, and in the 
left a reed cut into a whistle, from which 
they extracted a plaintive and prolonged 
sound at intervals. Thus they announce to 
the citizens that they are passing by, in case 
any one wants to be shampooed. The sham- 
pooers have the head shaven, and wear one 
garment, of gray or blue stuff. 

Blind From Weeping. 

I was told that they form a large fraternity, 
which is divided into two orders. The most 
ancient, that of Bou-Setzous, has a religious 
character and belongs to the Court. It was 
instituted and endowed by the son of a 
Mikado, who became blind by dint of weep- 
ing for the death of his Empress. 

The rival order of more recent origin, but 
not less chivalrous, is that of the Fekis. 

In the great battle which the Ta'igoun 
Yoritomo won, having put an end to the 
civil wars which rent the Empire, Feki, the 
chief of the rebel party, was slain. His 
brave general, named Kakekigo, soon fell 
into the power of the conqueror, who treated 
his prisoner with great consideration. When 
he imagined he had gained him over by his 
attentions, he called him into his presence 
and proposed to him to ally himself to the 
Imperial cause. 

"I have been the faithful servant of a 
good master," replied the general, "and I 
have lost him; no other in the world shall 
succeed him in my esteem. As for you, 



114 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



the author of his death, I could never look 
on you without longing to strike your head 
off at my feet, but you confound me by 
your magnanimity, therefore, accept the only 
sacrifice by which I can render homage to it." 
So saying, the unfortunate man tore out his 
two eyes and offered them to his new master. 



cians, but the greater number practice sham- 
pooing. All the money which they collect 
from city to city is deposited in a central 
treasury, from which the associates receive 
a fixed sum, sufficient for their subsistence 
to the end of their lives. 

The governor of the order resides at 




ANCIENT JAPANESE WARRIORS. 



Yoritomo set him at liberty, and gave him 
an estate in the province of Fiougo. The 
general founded the order for the blind 
under the authorization of the Mikado, and 
the Fekis soon exceeded the Bou-Setzous 
in numbers and in wealth. All the mem- 
bers of this society must exercise a profes- 
«*ow. There are some who become musi- 



Kioto. It is said that he exercises the right 
of life and death over the members, subject 
only to the Imperial supremacy. 

It is not difficult for a foreigner sojourning 
in Japan to mingle with the people, and even 
to penetrate into the intimacy of the middle 
classes; but I doubt whether he would ever 
succeed in gaining admission to family festi- 



POPULAR JAPANESE CUSTOMS. 



115 



«?& in any rank whatever of native society. 

In all the countries of the far East, the 
,« marriage of a daughter is always celebrated 
with more or less prolonged rejoicings in the 
house of the husband. But, while the China- 
man is proud to invite foreign guests to the 
wedding of his son, in order that he may 
make a pompous parade before them, the 
Japanese, on the contrary, surrounds the 
ceremonies which belong to this solemn act 
with the discreetest reserve. He regards it 
as much too serious an affair to be interfered 
with by the presence of any but the nearest 
relatives and the confidential friends of the 
two principals. 

Most Japanese marriages are the result of 
family arrangement made long beforehand, 
under the inspiration of the practical good 
sense which is one of the national character- 
istics 

Qualifications for Marriage. 

The bride brings no dowry, but she is 
given a trousseau which many a lady of 
higher rank might be proud of. She is 
required to have an unsullied reputation, a 
gentle and yielding disposition, the amount 
of education fitted for her sex, and the ac- 
quirements of a good housekeeper. 

Considerations of pecuniary interest hold 
only a secondary place, and they generally 
lead rather to business combinations than to 
mere money bargains. Thus, when a good 
citizen who has no son, gives his only, or 
his eldest daughter in marriage, her husband 
receives the title of his father-in-law's adopted 
son, takes the name of his father-in-law, and 
succeeds him in the exercise of his industry, 
or the transaction of his commercial affairs. 

Japanese weddings are preceded by a be- 
trothal ceremony, at which the principal 
members of both families are present; and 
it not unfrequently happens that it is on 



this occasion the young people discover for 
the first time the projects which their respec- 
tive parents have formed for them. From 
that day forth they are given opportunities 
of meeting, and of appreciating the wisdom 
of the choice which has been made on their 
behalf. Visits, invitations, presents, prepara- 
tions for their installation in their new home 
succeed each other so rapidly and so pleas- 
antly, that the young people are rarely other- 
wise than delighted with their prospects. 

Flowers and Offerings. 

The marriage generally takes place when 
the bride-elect has attained her sixteenth, 
and the bridegroom-elect his twentieth year. 
Early in the morning the young girl's trous- 
seau is brought to the bridegroom's dwelling, 
and laid out very tastefully in the apartments 
in which the wedding feast is to be held. In 
the chief room a domestic altar is erected, 
adorned with flowers and laden with offer- 
ings; and in front of this altar, images of 
the gods and patron saints of the two fami- 
lies are hung. 

The aquariums are supplied with various 
plants, grouped picturesquely, and with sym- 
bolical significance. On the lacquer-work 
tables are placed dwarf cedars and small 
figures representing the first couple, accom- 
panied by their venerable attributes, the 
hundred-years-old crane and tortoise. To 
complete the picture by a lesson in morals 
and patriotism, some packets of edible sea- 
weed, of mussels and dried fish, are placed 
among the wedding presents, to remind the 
young couple of the primitive food, and the 
simple customs of the ancient inhabitants of 
Japan . 

About noon a splendid procession enters 
the rooms thus prepared; the young bride, 
veiled and arrayed in white, advances, led by 
two female friends, and followed by a crowd 



116 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



of relatives, friends, and neighbors, in robes 
of ceremony composed of splendid scarlet 
brocade, gauze, and embroideries. 

The two friends do the honors, distribute 
the guests, see to the arrangements for the 
repast, and flit about from one group to 
another. They are called the male and 
female butterfly. The must personify, in 
the cut and decoration of their crape and 
gauze robes, the charming couple who, in 
popular story, set an example of conjugal 
felicity. May you, too, they seem to say to 
the betrothed pair, taste the flowers of life, 
hover in aerial flight over the earth, during 
your terrestrial career, always joyous, always 
united, until your happy existence exhales in 
common in a final embrace. 

A Beautiful Vase. 

With the exception of certain Buddhist 
sects, whose rites include a nuptial benedic- 
tion, the priest has no place in the celebra- 
tion of marriage in Japan. The decisive 
ceremony by which the Japanese replace 
our sacramental ordinance possesses an af- 
fecting symbolism. Amongst the objects 
displayed in the midst of the circle of the 
guests is a metal vase, in the form of a 
pitcher with two mouths. This vase is 
beautifully ornamented. 

At an appointed signal one of the bride's 
ladies fills it with saki ; the other takes it by 
the handle, raises it to the height of the 
mouths of the kneeling bride and bride- 
groom, and makes them drink alternately, 
each from the pitcher mouth placed opposite 
to their lips, until the vase is emptied. It is 
thus that, husband and wife, they must drink 
from the cup of conjugal life; he on his side, 
she on hers, but they must both taste the 
same ambrosia, or the same gall ; they must 
share equally the pains and sorrows as well 
as the joys of this new existence. 



If the poetical charm of the symbolism 
of the natural affections sufficed to render 
people moral, the Japanese should be the 
best husbands in the world. Unhappily, the 
same man who has the right to kill his wife 
on the simplest suspicion — if, for example, 
he should see her in conversation with a 
stranger — no relation of the family — has no 
scruple about introducing a first concubine, 
and soon a second, then a third, and it may 
be even a fourth, under the conjugal roof. 

Feels no Jealousy. 

It is said that, in order to spare the dig- 
nity of the legitimate wife, and in deference 
to her rank as a mother and the mistress of 
the house, the husband deigns to consult 
her upon the choice of each of the pearls of 
beauty he thinks fit to add to the treasures 
of his domestic felicity. It is said that the 
proudest dame, the most tenacious of her 
rights and of her prerogatives, feels no jeal- 
ousy, and sees wLh no displeasure an aug- 
mentation of her household which permits 
her to rule over a numerous suite of women, 
her humble servants, and little pages, slaves 
to the caprices of her own children. 

But this picture is not true to life. There 
is, no doubt, a class in Japanese society in 
which the marriage tie is much relaxed ; that 
of the Daimios, formerly condemned by the 
inhuman policy of the Shoguns to leave their 
wives and children as hostages at Tokio, 
during the prolonged absences rendered im- 
perative by their feudal position and its ad- 
ministrative duties. But the licentious habits 
of the nobility never propagate themselves 
among the middle classes with impunity. 

When the mother of the family forces her- 
self to suffer humiliation in silence, thence- 
forward peace and domestic happiness are at 
an end. When the relaxation of the ties of 
esteem and mutual confidence leads to a 



POPULAR JAPANESE CUSTOMS, 
breach of the community of interests, dis 



117 



order creeps into household affairs, the hus- 
band neglects the exercise of his profession, 
and endeavors to blind himself to his true 
moral condition by an ever increasing con- 
sumption of saki. Finally, poverty, sick- 
ness, and frequently even some violent catas- 
trophe, bring about the dissolution or the 
ruin of the household, which had been 
founded under such fair auspices. 

The middle classes, and the masses in 
general, are saved by their narrow means 
from the scourge I have just indicated. The 
great majority of households, those of shop- 
keepers, artisans, workmen, and cultivators, 
require the common toil of both father and 
mother for their maintenance; the constant 
combination of their efforts, not to secure 
ease, but merely to supply the commonest 
necessaries of life. 

Struggle for a Livelihood. 

The introduction of one single vice into 
such a state of things would bring about its 
immediate ruin. Many a young couple have 
to struggle bravely for years, in order to 
defray the expenses of their marriage. Others 
have had sufficient courage and good sense 
to resist the temptation of the national cus- 
tom. The proceedings in the latter instances 
testify to the national talent for acting. An 
honest couple have a marriageable daughter, 
and the latter is acquainted with a fine young 
fellow, who would be a capital match, if only 
he possessed the necessary means of making 
his lady-love and her parents the indispensa- 
ble wedding presents, and of keeping open 
house for a week. 

One fine evening, the father and mother, 
returning from the bath, find the house 
empty — the daughter is gone. They make 
inquiries in the neighborhood ; no one has 
seen her ; but the neighbors hasten to offer 



their services in seeking her, together with 
her distracted parents. They accept the 
offer, and head a solemn procession, which 
goes from street to street, to the lover's 
door. In vain does he, hidden behind his 
panels, turn a deaf ear ; he is at length 
obliged to yield to the importunities of the 
besieging crowd ; he opens the door, and the 
young girl, drowned in tears, throws herself 
at the feet of her parents, who threaten to 
curse her. 

A Social Comedy. 

Then comes the intervention of charitable 
friends, deeply moved by this spectacle ; the 
softening of the mother, the proud and in- 
exorable attitude of the father, the combined 
eloquence of the multitude, employed to. 
soften his heart ; the lover's endless protes- 
tations of his resolution to become the best 
of sons-in-law. At length the father yields, 
his resistance is overcome ; he raises his 
kneeling daughter, pardons her lover and 
calls him his son-in-law. 

Then, almost as if by enchantment, cups 
of saki circulate through the assembly ; 
everybody sits down upon the mats ; the 
two culprits are placed in the centre of the 
circle, large bowls of saki are handed to 
them ; and when they are emptied, the mar- 
riage is recognized, and declared to be 
validly contracted in the presence of a suf- 
ficient number of witnesses, and it is regis- 
tered next day by the proper officer, with- 
out any difficulty. 

The fashion of wedding-trips is unknown 
in Japan. Far from leaving the young people 
to enjoy their happiness in peace, their 
friends resort to every sort of pretext for 
overwhelming them with invitations and 
visits, which are always accompanied by 
prolonged bouts of eating and drinking. 

For two years at least the young mother 



118 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



will nurse her child, and according to the 
rules of politeness which regulate the visits of 
Japanese ladies, she must extend her lacteal 
gifts to the children of her friends. Another 
demonstration of courtesy is made by the 
young girls of the neighborhood. They 
dispute for the privilege of carrying the 
new-born infant out for its air and exercise, 
not only as an act of neighborly kindness, 




JAPANESE BRIDE AND ATTENDANTS. 

but in order that they may, quite seriously, 
serve an apprenticeship to the main duties of 
their future vocation. 

On the thirtieth day after his birth, the 
new citizen of Niphon receives his first name. 
He will take a second on attaining his major- 
ity, a third at his marriage, a fourth when he 
shall be appointed to any public function, a 
fifth when he shall ascend in rank or in dig- 
nity, and so on until the last, the name which 



shall be given him after his death, and in- 
scribed upon his tomb ; that by which his 
memory shall be held sacred from generation 
to generation. 

The ceremony, which corresponds to bap- 
tism among us, is a simple presentation of 
the newly-born child in the temple of his 
parents' gods. Except in certain sects, it is 
not accompanied by sprinkling with water, 
or any of the formalities of purification. 
The father hands a memorandum contain- 
ing three names, to the officiating bonze, 
who copies them on three separate sheets 
of paper, which he mixes together and 
shakes up at random, pronouncing a sacra- 
mental invocation in a loud voice. Then 
he throws them into the air, and the first 
which, in falling, touches the floor of the 
holy place, indicates the name most agreea- 
ble to the presiding divinity. 

The bonze immediately inscribes it upon 
a sheet of blessed paper, and gives it as a 
talisman to the child's father. Then, the 
religious act being complete, it remains 
only to celebrate the event by visits and 
banquets proportionate to the social con- 
dition of the infant hero of the festival, 
who receives a number of presents on this 
occasion, among which two fans figure, in 
the case of a male, and a pot of pomade 
in that of a female child. The fans are 
precursors of swords, and the pomade is 
the presage of feminine charms. In both 
cases, a packet of flax thread is added, 
signifying good wishes for a long life. 

The baptism of a child is always an occa- 
sion for generosity on the part of the parent 
towards the priest of their religion. It is 
understood that the priests shall not fail to 
inscribe the child's name on the list of their 
pupils, and shall follow all the phases of his 
life with solicitude. The registers in the 
bonze-houses are said to be most accurately 



POPULAR JAPANESE CUSTOMS. 



119 



fcept ; they must always be at the disposal of 
me police authorities. 

At three years old, the boy begins to 
wear a sword belt, and at seven, if he be a 
Samourai (military class), the two swords, 
which form the insignia of his rank. These 
weapons are, of course, provisional, and 
adapted to his size. At fifteen, he exchanges 
them for the proven swords confided to him, 
as a glorious trust, by his family, during his 
lifetime. 

Responsible Age of Fifteen. 

In the middle class, the chivalrous cere- 
monies have no place, but the three before- 
mentioned dates, and chiefly the last, are 
kept with rejoicings which yield in import- 
ance only to marriage festivities. On the 
day which completes the boy's fifteenth year, 
he attains his majority, adopts the head-dress 
of grown men, and takes a part in the busi- 
ness of the paternal house. The day before 
he is addressed as a child ; all of a sudden 
everything around him is changed ; the cere- 
monious forms of national civility increase his 
importance in his own eyes, and he hastens, 
on his side, to respond to the congratulations 
which he receives, so as to prove that while 
he is proud of his new position, he is also 
awake to its responsibility. 

This noble testimony does not, indeed, 
limit itself to vain declarations, and among 
the most interesting traits of Japanese society 
are the zeal, perseverance, and seriousness 
with which young people of fifteen forsake 
the pleasures of childhood, and enter the 
severe school of practical life, each preparing 
himself to make his way honorably in the 
world. 

Apprenticeship to any manual profession 
is equivalent to ten years' service. During 
this time the master feeds, clothes, and lodges 
the apprentice, but he never gives him any 



salary, until quite near the end of the term, 
when the apprentice having become a work- 
man, receives sufficient pocket-money to buy 
tobacco. Professional instruction, neverthe- 
less, does not suffer from this state of things. 

The master is interested in teaching his 
apprentice as thoroughly as possible, be- 
cause it is he who presents the workman, in 
his turn aspiring to the rank of master, to 
the "tribe" or trade. This rank cannot be 
attained under the age of twenty-five years. 
As soon as the workman has reached that 
time of life, his master gives him his liberty, 
and presents him with the tools necessary 
for the setting up of a modest workshop. 
Then comes marriage to consecrate the new 
establishment. 

It frequently happens that the workman 
marries before he is set up in a workshop of 
his own ; but this takes place only when his 
parents' circumstances admit of his bringing 
his wife to live under their roof until he can 
make a home for her. 

Funeral Expenses. 
In all Japanese families death gives rise to 
a series of domestic solemnities, more or 
less sumptuous, according to the rank of the 
deceased, but in every case in a proportion 
very expensive to his nearest relatives. They 
have to bear the cost of the religious cere- 
monies which are in the province of the 
bonzes : they have to pay for the last sacra- 
ments ; the watching and the praying, which 
is kept up without intermission in the house 
of the deceased until the funeral, the service 
which precedes the departure of the funeral 
procession, the funeral mass celebrated in 
the temple, and all the requisites for the 
burial or the burning of the corpse ; such as 
the coffin, draperies, torches, flowers, com- 
bustibles, urn, tomb, collections and offerings 
given to the bonzes. 



120 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



Then comes the turn of the coolies who 
have washed the body, of those who have 
carried the coffin, and the convent servants 
whose duties lie within the enclosure of the 
cemetery. But this is not all ; a pious cus- 
tom ordains that all persons of a certain 
station shall install a servant at the house 
door charged with the distribution of alms, 
in small coins, to all the poor, indiscrimi- 
nately, who come to seek them. And also, 
on the return of the funeral procession, all 
the party are expected to take leave of the 
head of the afflicted family, who testifies his 
gratitude by giving them a handsome repast. 

Horror of Dead Bodies. 

It is not, however, in these harrassing ex- 
penses only that we must seek for the source 
of the hardly disguised impatience with 
which the Japanese discharge the last offices 
towards their neighbors. The truth is, that 
though they are hardened to the sight of 
blood, and to scenes of homicide, they cannot 
overcome, even in the case of members of 
their own family, the instinctive repugnance, 
the profound horror which the presence or 
even the vicinity of a corpse causes them, 
when the death has been a natural one. 
There are, however, noble exceptions. 

Among the Japanese women, we find wives 
and mothers, who, overcoming every super- 
stitious fear, know how to prove that love is 
stronger than death ; while the men of the 
household consider themselves acquitted of 
their task when they have sent for the bonzes 
to recite prayers, and for a barber and his 
coolie assistants, who lay out the corpse, and 
retire to smoke and drink at the greatest 
possible distance from the chamber of death, 
the mother of the family remains to the last 
beside the corpse of the husband or the son. 
During the first hours of mourning, it is she 
who receives the condolences of the friends 



and neighbors. Humbly prostrated on the 
reversed mat, at the foot of a screen, also 
reversed, which hides the corpse from view, 
she mingles her sobs with the sighs and 
consoling words of her visitors. 

But as soon as the undertakers (as we 
should call them) arrives, she rises and 
assists in all the preparations they have to 
make. The head of the deceased must be 
completely shaven, and his body carefully 
washed, which is done by plentiful douches 
of tepid water, showered into the bath-room 
in which he is placed sitting on a turned up 
tub. When the coolies have dried the corpse, 
they lift it up respectfully, in order to place 
it in the coffin. The operation is not always 
an easy one. The rich Japanese like to rest 
in the earth, doubled up into enormous jars, 
which are masterpieces of native pottery. It 
requires a certain amount of energy and 
very strong wrists to squeeze a corpse that 
is at all broad-shouldered into the narrow 
neck of one of these jars. 

Cheap Caskets. 

The lower middle class and common 
people use, for coffins, simply barrels made 
of fir planks, with bands of bamboo bark. 
Whether the corpse is going to be buried or 
burned, it is squeezed into the same narrow 
compass. The head is bent, the legs are 
doubled up under the body, and the arms 
are crossed on the breast. It is not acci- 
dentally that the Japanese bury their dead in 
the attitude in which a child rests in the 
mother's womb. The practice enforces the 
dogma of a future life under an eloquent 
symbolism of which the concluding action 
of the final parting is a most significant 
feature. 

At the moment when the coolies are about 
to place the cover on the jar, or the lid on 
the barrel, the mourning woman who has 



POPULAR JAPANESE CUSTOMS. 

previously assisted in all the melancholy 
preliminaries, bends for the last time over 
the corpse, and places between its hands a 
viaticum, no doubt the strangest, but also the 
most remarkable in all the mythologies of 
antiquity. It is a little sheet of paper, 
folded in four, containing a small shred of 
the umbilical cord which united the dead 
person with his mother at the moment of his 
birth. 

When maternal love, or that of his suc- 
cessor has confided this strange emblem of a 
future birth to the mysteries of the tomb, 
and made, under this curious form, its 
humble protest against the seeming triumph 
of death, the coffin is closed ; and the most 
important of the national funeral ceremonies, 
the " domestic solemnity " is accomplished. 



Superstitious Pomps. 

The rest consists merely of superstitious 
practices, vain pomp, and pure formalities, 
in which exorcism alternates with the glori- 
fication of family pride. It does not suffice 
that the Mikosi should protect the coffin, at 
its exit from the house of death, it passes 
under an arch of blessed bamboo, which 
prevents evil influences from following it. 
The bonzes, carrying their rosaries, open the 
procession. The nearest relatives are dressed 
in white, or they wear common straw hats, 
which they do not remove until after the 
completion of the ceremonies of purification. 

An inscription, carried before the Mikosi, 
proclaims the name which the deceased is to 
receive in his epitaph. The horses of a 
military chief figure in his funeral procession, 
caparisoned in white, and led by grooms in 
mourning. His swords, his armorial bear- 
ings, his banner, various precious things 
which recall the rank that he held in the 
world, are exhibited among the groups of 
his relations and followers. 



121 

The funeral procession of the poor man 
consists of a small number of friends and 
neighbors, who hurry, at sunset, to the 
sombre valley where the rite of cremation 
takes place under the auspices of some bonze 
of low station, sent from a neighboring con- 
vent. 



Japanese Cremation. 

The Yedas, who ?,re the outcasts of 
Japanese society, and deprived of the aids 
of religion, disdain every kind of ceremony. 
They simply lay the corpses of their brethren 
in abjectness on rude stretchers, and carry 
them away to a desert place. There, they 
pile up a heap of dead wood on which they 
stretch the bodies, covered with straw mats ; 
and kindle with their own hands the fire 
that is to restore these miserable remains of 
humanity to the elements. 

There is a class still lower than that of 
the Yedas, properly so called, that is to say, 
the artisans who practise unclean arts, such 
as skinners, tanners, leather dressers ; and 
one lower still, public executioners, pur- 
veyors of vice, lepers, cripples, registered 
beggars ; then comes a final category of in- 
dividuals held in the extreme degree of legal 
infamy, it is the class of " Christans," the 
tolerated descendants of such of the native 
Christian families as were not entirely de- 
stroyed in the great persecution of the sev- 
enteenth century. 

Their condition is worse than that of the 
mere Yedas, who live among themselves in 
freedom, outside the city boundaries ; so 
utterly ignored by the law, that the space of 
ground occupied by their camp of thatched 
huts does not count in the measurement 
plans. The Christans, on the contrary, are 
assigned a miserable crowded quarter in the 
city, like the ghetto of the Jews in the Mid- 
dle Ages, which is virtually a prison. The 



122 

police keep watch over them until they have 
drawn their last breath, and it is their busi- 
ness to remove their corpses, and dispose of 
them somehow — no one knows where or 
how ; but so that the name of the Crucified 
One shall not be pronounced over their 
ashes. 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 

especially the practice of cremation intro- 
duced, in the year 700, by the priest Joseo, 
have enabled the bonzes to make an im- 
mense trade out of the lots of ground of 
which they dispose. A small enclosure is 
sufficient for a whole family through a great 
number of generations. The commemora- 




INTERIOR OF A JAPANESE THEATRE. 



Respect for the dead and tomb-worship, 
which is one of the seemingly-estimable 
features of the Buddhist religion, does not 
exist, properly speaking, except among the 
privileged classes, and in proportion to the 
profit which the bonzes extract from it. The 
method of burial, the form of the coffin, and 



tive table, which stands over the spot in 
which the cinerary urn has been buried, oc- 
cupies no greater space than the urn itself. 

The badly-kept condition of the burial- 
places of the common people contrasts 
strongly with the orderliness of the fine ter- 
races and great funereal monuments in their 



POPULAR JAPANESE CUSTOMS. 



123 



neighborhood. Both are entrusted to the 
care of the same bonze-house ; but it is the 
same with tombs as with indulgences, the 
bonzes have made each a question of tariff. 

There is at Tokio a National Dramatic 
Institution. The performers are, properly 
speaking, jugglers, equilibrists, and acrobats. 
Another corporation, infinitely more interest- 
ing, is that of the conjuring jugglers, the 
most skilful among whom perform princi- 
pally at the fair of Yamasta, and in all the 
dependencies of the Grand Temple of Quan- 
non at Asaksa. They also make provincial 
tours, although we have not heard of their 
having quitted Japan. 

But we may leave them aside, and even 
their superiors, and pass on to the bonze- 
houses which combine within their vast space 
all the seductions and all the juggleries, 
every industry and every artifice, by which it 
is possible to contribute to human supersti- 
tions and human passions. 

Vast Pleasure Grounds. 

The great river which divides Tokio into 
two distinct cities, encloses in one vast circuit 
the districts to the north of the citadel. 
These are specially consecrated to the pleas- 
ures of the inhabitants of the capital. In 
those pleasures centres the industry of the 
district, and it excludes no class of society. 
It accommodates itself, on the contrary, to 
all tastes, responds to all caprices, and satis- 
fies all exigencies. 

Hundreds of temples rival the tea-houses; 
the circuses compete with the theatres ; the 
fairs with the groves, the lakes, and the 
canals — those refuges of tranquil joy; while 
towards the north the great square harbors, 
with the full sanction of the Government, 
countless dens of vice and debauchery. 

On the right and left of the high road, and 
all along the avenues, on the bank of the 



Ogawa, and in the side streets which diverge 
from the high road, there are temples, tea- 
houses, public gardens, eating-houses, ora- 
tories, shops, and resting-places, booths in 
which consecrated rosaries and profane 
curiosities are exhibited — in a word, every- 
thing that the most ingenious speculation 
can offer to the travellers, the pilgrims, the 
frequenters of theatres, and the idlers of all 
ages, who are coming and going by thou- 
sands, by night as well as by day, through 
these distant quarters of the capital. 

Questionable Establishments. 

There are, however, almost within the 
same district, and generally throughout the 
meridional zone of the triangle formed by the 
Ogawa, establishments which only prosper at 
a certain distance from the great arteries of 
circulation, because their speciality consists 
in keeping themselves apart from the floating 
population, while permitting their frequenters 
to mingle for a few minutes, when they please, 
with the movements of the crowd. Among 
them are the aristocratic tea-houses. They 
can hardly be distinguished externally from 
those of the middle classes. Their entire 
superiority consists in the arrangement of 
the halls and of the furniture, of the garden, 
and above all in the ceremony of the enter- 
tainments. 

When the haughty Samourai enters one 
of these establishments, the mistress of the 
house, and the young waitresses who accom- 
pany her, prostrate themselves at his feet. 
The youngest of the girls rises, and begs the 
favor of carrying the sword of the noble 
person, who presents it to her. She hastens 
to unfold a silken handkerchief, with which 
she covers her right hand, in order to take 
hold of the sabre by the end of the scabbard, 
and she holds it in front of her breast until 
the Samourai has gone into the ve«tiary. 



124 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE 



when she places it upon a lacquered rack, 
ready to be returned to its owner. 

The gentleman then proceeds, with the 
aid of his female suite, to make the most 
luxurious and minute nocturnal toilet. The 
one lock of hair which constitutes his head- 
dress is twisted by means of a knot of crape 
into a sort of nightcap. On his neck and 
shoulders is laid a thick silken handkerchief, 
which serves him for a shawl. His cloak is 
replaced by a sumptuous dressing-gown, 
fastened by silken cords most gracefully 
disposed ; a pair of white socks, which serve 
as slippers, completes his costume, and after 
having washed his hands and face in per- 
fumed water, he majestically takes his way 
to the salon, where a collation is prepared. 

Variety of Industries. 

The streets in the vicinity of the harbor 
are the centre of innumerable industries, 
whose raw materials are furnished by the 
ocean. There we saw vast drying-houses 
for the fish, the molluscs, and the seaweed 
destined for exportation, and also the great 
stages on which the preparations of the 
aboura-kami, or oil-paper stuff used by the 
Japanese instead of our waterproof materials, 
are stretched. 

The native artisans excel in the fabrication 
and imitation of the edible birds' nests of 
Java. They produce these forgeries by 
means of a glutinous exudation of certain 
marine herbs, and they are then exported to 
China, with every trick in their packing and 
labelling which can possibly deceive the ex- 
perts of the Celestial Empire ; and I am by 
no means sure that Europe has not also 
been extensively taken in. 

Fish sausages are extensively made in this 
quarter. They are of various kinds, each 
having a special color. A great white- 
washed oven is set up in the centre of a 



spacious kitchen ; it contains bowls of iron, 
and a jar in which a certain class of fish is 
cooking. Others are chopped up very 
small ; and, as soon as they are sufficiently 
dried and reduced to a powder in mortars of 
hard wood, they are sorted, seasoned and 
rolled into paste, pressed and tied up in their 
envelopes, of which each receives its dip of 
color. 

They are then packed in bales. Half a 
dozen persons generally work together on 
all these operations, which are performed to 
a monotonous song. The knives and the 
pestles are used in time to the rhyme. But 
when any noise comes from the street the 
men throw them down and go out and swell 
the gaping crowd. 

Perhaps nothing more serious is going on 
than the dance of the Lion of Corea. How 
often everyone there has seen it ! And, 
nevertheless, the discordant appeal of the 
fife and the tambourine which announce its 
approach is never resisted. 

Wandering Actors. 

Four actors come out of a neighboring 
street; three form the orchestra, and the 
fourth gives the representation. He is 
wrapped in a very large striped cloak sur- 
mounted by an enormous head. The monster 
can make himself longer or shorter at will, 
and suddenly raise himself up two yards 
above the people who are with him. 

The children utter cries of mingled ad- 
miration and fear. Some, bolder than the 
rest, venture to lift up the skirts of his 
cloak, and even to pinch the legs of the my- 
sterious tumbler. He sometimes frightens 
them by turning his head towards them, 
opening his mouth and shaking the thick 
mane of scraps of white paper which sur- 
rounds his scarlet face ; then he will begin 
to dance to the sound of the instruments of 



POPULAR JAPANESE CUSTOMS. 



125 



his companions. He carries his tambourine 
himself, but as soon as he leaves off dancing 
he sets it down, and, suddenly stooping, 
transforms himself into a quadruped, exe- 
cutes some grotesque gambols, and finishes 
by stripping off his accoutrements. 

Then the monster vanishes, but the juggler 
remains. He seizes a drumstick and balances 
it on the thumb of the left hand ; he puts a 
second stick on the end of the first, and a 
third crosswise above the other two ; finally, 
he threw them into the air, catch them in his 
hands, and spins them about more and more 
rapidly and uninterruptedly, adding one, 
two or three balls, which come from no one 
knows where. 

End of the Performance. 

The admiration of the spectators is at its 
height. One of the musicians passes round 
a plate — that is to say, a fan. The repre- 
sentation is finished, and the juggler lights 
his pipe from that of some benevolent neigh- 
bor. It is not uncommon to see him neg- 
ligently putting on his costume again, and 
sitting calmly smoking, with his head cov- 
ered down to his nose with the enormous 
and grotesque mask of the monster. The 
latter is the most picturesque part of the 
spectacle. 

By degrees, as we penetrate into the 
streets and populous places of the suburbs, 
we discover a whole world of small trades 
and small pleasures. 

Here and there we see the humble dwell- 
ings of various classes of wandering work- 
men who start for the city before the sun 
rises, and who will only return late at night. 
These are cobblers, who go about mending 
wooden sandals ; tinkers, coopers, traffickers 
in broken porcelain, vendors of old clothes 
and remnants of stuff for girdles and 
women's kirimons ; all these people are 



trained to the exercise of great patience, and 
also to the calculation of fractions of frac- 
tions. It is a very curious sight to watch 
them counting on their frames of beads 
strung on wires. 

But we must not forget the rag-picker of 
Tokio who unconsciously contributed for 
many years to the maintenance of the paper 
factories in England. In the morning and 
the evening he goes ferreting about in the 
public places, and in the populous streets of 
Hondjo and the merchant city, laden, not 
with a hod, but with a sort of paper basket 
which he carries in his left hand ; in his 
right hand is a pair of long canes, by means 
of which he picks up everything that appears 
worth the trouble, arid throws it into the 
basket. 

A Doll Show. 

The professional tramps pay no attention 
to the curiosities they meet in their path. 
Nevertheless, at Tokio I have seen them ex- 
change some amicable phrases, accompanied 
by two or three puffs of tobacco, with their 
natural friends the tumblers, with whom the 
good city abounds. These performers go 
about with what the English would call a 
Punch and Judy show, but it is really a doll 
with joints, arrayed in the costume of the 
sect of jumping priests. They exhibit, on a 
table, a model of the temple of Amida,, a 
white mouse runs up the steps, rings a bell 
at the door, and performs its devotions at the 
altar. 

A third exhibitor goes about with birds 
trained to fire a bow, to pick rice, to draw 
water out of a well ; and to pull a little car 
laden with balls of cotton. A street juggler 
balances himself upon two high planks, and 
turns somersaults, or spins over his head 
three or four porcelain jugs or cups; he 
breaks an egg, and pulls twenty yards of 



126 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



string out of it. He crumples a bit of paper 
in his hand, and immediately a cloud of arti- 
ficial flies fills the air. 

The greater number of these schemers 
speculate less on the receipts of their repre- 
sentation than on the sale of certain small 
wares which the city shopkeepers let them 




LION DANCE STREET PASTIME IN TOKIO 

sell on commission. Marionettes and mice 
exhibitors bringr crowds of children round 
the box which they use as a stage, and these 
children know well that the box is full of 
sweetmeats. The mender of fans has a store 
of new ones. Other street actors bring 
specimens of the industry of the suburbs 



into the aristocratic quarters, and get a small 
commission on all orders which they succeed 
in obtaining. 

They also sell packets of the hard wood 
or bamboo canes which they use for forks ; 
also toothpicks of scented and savory wood, 
tooth-brushes made of whitewood, with one 
of the ends beaten out 
into a little fringe. The 
Japanese have a peculiar 
tooth-powder; one of 
its ingredients is ivory 
dust. It is sold in 
small boxes, with vari- 
ously colored and deco- 
rated lids, which vary 
according to the quality 
of the merchandise. The 
powder with which mar- 
ried women dye their 
teeth black is sold in 
metal caskets. 

Pretty Designs. 

Workmen of the most 
humble appearance, cabi- 
net makers, joiners, tur- 
ners, and wood carvers, 
fabricate a multitude of 
pretty things, in elm- 
wood bark, bamboo, 
bone, ivory, deer-horn, 
yellow amber, sea-shells, 
tortoise-shell, and cocoa- 
nut. 

The Chinese workmen 
who carve ivory excel in the execution of 
masterpieces of patience, such as little empty 
balls, three or four in number, which turn one 
within the other. The Japanese artists do not 
build their fame on conquering difficulties ; a 
more noble ambition animates them ; they 



aim above all at the perfection of the imitation 



POPULAR JAPANESE CUSTOMS. 



127 



of nature, and when they yield to the caprice of 
their imagination, it takes ordinarily a humor- 
ous direction, full of genuine mirth, and not 
the taste for burlesque and eccentricity which 
characterizes the Chinese workman. 

The most exquisite things among the 
small figures in ivory to be found in Tokio 
are incontestably those representing animals, 
and more particularly the tiger, the buffalo, 
the bear, the monkey, and the mouse. 
These little art objects, which for us are only 
curious, are an integral part of the outfit of 
the native smokers of both sexes. In order 
to carry their pipe in its case and their 
tobacco-box, they fasten them to the end of 
a silken cord, whose either extremity is 
ornamented with one or two of these dainty 
little trifles, which keep down the cord and 
prevent it slipping when it has been passed 
through the girdle. They do the same with 
their medicine-box. 

All Sorts of Trades. 

Tne weavers' trade is not only applied to 
silk and cotton, but to canvas, which the 
Japanese painters use very largely ; and to 
flax cloth, which cannot be of an inferior 
quality in a country like Japan, vvhere the 
most precious of European and American 
textiles grows to two yards in height. 

The workshops of the hosiers, mat- 
borderers, binders, and box-makers present 
a picturesque assemblage of workpeople of 
all ages and of both sexes. The coopers 
work in spacious enclosures behind bamboo 
palings. 

The shops of the box-makers contain an 
immense collection of coffers and caskets in 
wood of every kind, among which the cam- 
phor-wood of Kiousiou, which never loses 
its aromatic perfume, is particularly remark- 
able. An assortment of these boxes means 
half a dozen, which can be placed one 



within the other so as to be packed in a 
single parcel. 

There is also an immense quantity of very 
strong boxes in lacquered paper ; an infinite 
variety of household utensils, and small 
articles of furniture, some lacquered, such as 
rice bowls, others in white wood or in 
bamboo. 

The extreme scarcity of mechanical appli- 
ances at the disposal of the Japanese 
artisans strikes the American and European 
visitor forcibly. 

Curious Workshops. 

Near the shops or warehouses of which I 
am speaking were four or five booths, which 
were assigned to as many different trades. 
I am convinced that all the tools of the five 
workshops put together were not worth 
twenty-five dollars. 

In the first booth a man was making dolls 
of papier-mache, which are especial favorites 
in Japanese houses. They consist of the 
head and the face only, wrapped in a scarlet 
mantle ; and it is said that in this form they 
perpetuate from generation to generation the 
memory of a high priest of Buddha who had 
used up his legs completely in the practice 
of his devotions. These dolls can be turned 
inside out, and are of all dimensions. 

Further on were two workmen, each using 
a little hammer and chisel in carving metal 
pipes, and a third was preparing wooden 
stems ; here a lounger was holding wood 
before the flames of a fire of shavings, in 
order to give it the necessary bend, while his 
companion was putting together with a little 
cement and string the tufts of silk, horsehair 
or paper, which are hoisted at the ends ol 
long pikes in order to indicate the rank or 
functions of a civil or military chief. 

In a neighboring workshop an old man 
was adjusting the hoops and hooks of a 



128 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



number of paper lanterns with a pair of 
pincers. 

At the entrance of a side street we see half 
a dozen workmen making wooden sandals. 
Here the work is divided ; everyone has his 
speciality. One cuts a piece of wood into 
equal lengths with a saw, and then splits 
them into soles or cross planks. A third 
rounds the edges of the heavy sandals, and a 
fourth makes holes in them, through which 
the straw cords are passed. Other workmen 
are employed in finishing sandals of a more 
luxurious kind, and packing them by dozens 
of pairs into the bales which are to be carried 
to the retail warehouse. 

I had yet to see the most peculiar of the 
shops in this quarter, that of the clockmaker. 



He was making small dials and clocks, rival, 
ling the " Cuckoos " of the Black Forest, 
but with this difference, that they are on the 
system of moveable hours, which increase or 
decrease according to the seasons. 

The artist, squatting before a little anvil 
fixed in the ground, is busy with the mecha- 
nism of his chronometer, with the exception 
of the gong which strikes the hours. His 
tools, scattered round him on mats, consist 
of a hammer, two or three files, a couple of 
pincers, and some gimlets. 

With the exterior of the small dials, which 
are portable instruments of the form and size 
of a big chestnut, he has nothing to do ; the 
cases are made by the copper-workers, and 
constitute a separate industry. 




A SHRINE OF THE GODDESS OP MERCY. 



CHAPTER VIII. 
SHINTOISM AND BUDDHISM IN JAPAN. 



SHINTO, which means literally " the 
way of the gods," is the name 
given to the mythology and vague 
ancestor and nature-worship which 
preceded the introduction of Buddhism into 
Japan, and which survives to the present day 
in a somewhat modified form. We would 
here draw attention to the fact that Shinto, 
so often spoken of as a religion, is hardly 
entitled to that name. It has no set of dog- 
mas, no sacred book, no moral code. 

The absence of a moral code is accounted 
for, in the writings of the modern native 
commentators, by the innate perfection of 
Japanese humanity, which obviates the neces- 
sity for such outward props. It is only out- 
casts, like the Chinese and Western nations, 
whose natural depravity renders the occa- 
sional appearance of sages and reformers 
necessary ; and even with this assistance, all 
foreign nations continue to wallow in a mire 
of ignorance, guilt and disobedience towards 
the .heaven-descended monarch of the uni- 
verse — the Mikado of Japan. 

It is necessary, however, to distinguish 
three periods in the existence of Shinto. 
During the first of these — roughly speaking, 
down to A. D. 550 — the Japanese had no 
notion of religion as a separate institution. 
To pay homage to the gods, that is, to the 
departed ancestors of the Imperial Family, 
and to the spirits of other great men, was a 
usage springing from the » same mental soil 
as that which produced passive obedience to, 
and worship of, the living Mikado. 

Besides this, there were prayers to the 
Ja.— 9 



wind-gods, to the god of fire, to the god of 
pestilence, to the goddess of food, and to 
deities presiding over the saucepan, the 
cauldron, the grate and the kitchen. There 
were also purifications for wrong-doing, as 
there were for bodily defilement, such as, for 
instance, contact with a corpse. 

The purifying element was water. But 
there was not even a shadowy idea of any 
code of morals, or any systematization of 
the simple notions of the people concerning 
things unseen. There was neither heaven 
nor hell — only a kind of neutral-tinted 
Hades. Some of the gods were good, some 
were bad ; nor was the line between men 
and gods at all clearly drawn. There was, 
however, a rude sort of priesthood, each 
priest being charged with the service of 
some particular local god, but not with 
preaching to the people. 

A Virgin at the Shrine. 

One of the virgin daughters of the Mikado 
always dwelt at the ancient shrine of Ise, 
keeping watch over the mirror, the sword 
and the jewel, which he had inherited from 
his ancestress, Ama-terasu, Goddess of the 
Sun. Shinto may be said, in this its first 
period, to have been a set of ceremonies as 
much political as religious. 

By the introduction of Buddhism in the 
middle of the sixth century after Christ, the 
second period of the existence of Shinto was; 
inaugurated, and further growth in the direc- 
tion of a religion was stopped. The meta- 
physics of Buddhism were far too profound,, 

129 



130 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



its ritual far too gorgeous, its moral code far 
too exalted, for the puny fabric of Shinto to 
make any effective resistance. All that there 
was of religious feeling in the nation went 
over to the enemy. 

The Buddhist priesthood diplomatically 
received the native Shinto gods into their 
pantheon as avatars of ancient Buddhas, for 
which reason many of the Shinto ceremonies 
connected with the court were kept up, al- 
though Buddhist ceremonies took the first 
place even in the thoughts of the converted 
descendants of the sun. The Shinto rituals, 
previously handed down by word of mouth, 
were then first put into written shape. 

Priests Practicing Sorcery. 

The term Shinto itself was also introduced 
in order to distinguish the old native way of 
thinking from the new doctrine imported 
from India ; for down to that time no one 
had hit on the notion of including the vari- 
ous fragmentary legends and local usages 
under one general designation. But view- 
ing the matter broadly, we may say that 
the second period of Shinto, which lasted 
from about A. D. 550 to 1700, was one of 
darkness and decrepitude. The various petty 
sects into which it then divided itself, owed 
what little vitality they possessed to frag- 
ments of cabalistic lore filched from the baser 
sort of Buddhism and from Taoism. Their 
priests practised the arts of divination and 
sorcery. 

Only at court and at a few great shrines, 
such as those of Ise and Izumo, was a 
knowledge of Shinto in its native simplicity 
kept up ; and even there it is doubtful 
whether changes did not creep in with the 
lapse of ages. Most of the Shinto temples 
throughout the country were served by 
Buddhist priests, who introduced the archi- 



their own religion. They meant to establish 
the faith in which they had been schooled. 

Thus was formed a mixed religion founded 
on a compromise between the old creed and 
the new — and hence the tolerant ideas on 
theological subjects of most Japanese of the 
middle and lower classes, who will worship 
indifferently at the shrines of either faith. 

The third period in the history of Shinto 
began about the year 1700, and continues 
down to the present day. It has been 
termed "the period of the revival of pure 
Shinto." During the seventeenth and eigh- 
teenth centuries, under the peaceful govern- 
ment of the Tokugawa dynasty of Shoguns, 
the literati of Japan turned their eyes back- 
ward on their country's past. Old manu- 
scripts were disinterred, old histories and old 
poems were put into print, the old language 
was investigated and imitated. 

A Gain for Shinto. 

Soon the movement became religious and 
political — above all, patriotic, not to say 
chauvinistic. The Shogunate was frowned 
on, because it had supplanted the autocracy 
of the heaven-descended Mikados. Budd- 
hism and Confucianism were sneered at be- 
cause of their foreign origin. Shinto gained 
by all this. The great scholars Mabuchi 
(1697-1769), Motoori (1730-1801), and 
Hirata (1776- 1843) devoted themselves to a 
religious propaganda — if that can be called a 
religion which sets out from the principle 
that the only two things needful are to follow 
one's natural impulses and to obey the 
Mikado. 

This order of ideas triumphed for a mo- 
ment in the revolution of 1868. Buddhism 
was disestablished and disendowed, and 
Shinto was installed as the only state religion 
— the Council for Spiritual Affairs being 






te-ctural ornaments and the ceremonial of given equal rank with the Council of State, 




a 

H 
H 
M 

o 

z 
< 

o 

o 

ffl 
i 

^-i 

w 
w 

to 

w 



131 



132 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



which latter controlled affairs temporal. At 
the same time thousands of temples, formerly 
Buddhist, were, as the phrase went, 
"purified," that is, stripped of their Buddhist 
ornaments, and handed over to Shinto 
keeping. 

But as Shinto had no root in itself — being 
a thing too empty and barren to influence 
the hearts of men — Buddhism soon rallied. 
The Council for Spiritual Affairs was reduced 
to the rank of a department, the department 
to a bureau, the bureau to a sub-bureau. 
The whole thing is now a mere shadow, 
though Shinto is still in so far the official cult 
that certain temples are maintained out of 
public moneys, and that the attendance of 
certain officials is required from time to time 
at ceremonies of a half-religious half-courtly 
nature. Hard pressed to retain a little popu- 
larity, the priests have taken to selling cheap 
prints of religious subjects after the fashion 
of their Buddhist rivals, and to issuing short 
treatieses on morals taken bodily (but without 
acknowledgment) from Confucius. 

Countless Gems Destroyed. 

The lovers of Japanese art bear the Shinto 
revivalists ill-will for the ridiculous "purifi- 
cation " which has destroyed countless gems 
of Buddhist architecture and ornament — 
not for the sake of a grand moral ideal, as 
with the Puritans of Europe, but for an ideal 
immeasurably inferior to Buddhism itself. 
On the other hand, the literary style of their 
writings outshines anything produced by the 
Buddhists ; and their energy in rescuing the 
old Japanese classic authors from neglect is 
worthy of all praise. 

The Shinto temple preserves in a slightly 
elaborated form the type of the primeval 
Japanese hut, differing in this from the Budd- 
hist temple (Tera) which is of Chinese and 
more remotely of Indian origin. The out- 



ward and visible sign of Shinto is a wand! 
from which depend strips of white paper cut 
into little angular bunches (gokei), intended 
to represent the offerings of cloth which 
were anciently tied to branches of the 
Cleyera tree at festival time. Another differ 
ence is that the Shinto temple is thatched 
whereas the Buddhist temple is tiled. Fur 
thermore the Shinto temple is plain and 
empty, while the Buddhist is highly decorated 
and filled with religious properties. 

The Worship of Buddha. 

Buddhism in Japan dates from the year 
552 of our era. At that epoch, Kin-Mei, 
the thirteenth Mikado, received from King 
Petsi at Corea, a statue of Sakyamouni, to- 
gether with books, banners, a canopy for the 
altar, and other objects used in the worship 
of Buddha. With these presents came a 
letter to the following effect: 

"Behold the best of all doctrines; coming 
from distant India, it reveals to us what was 
a mystery to Confucius himself, and trans- 
ports us into a final condition whose felicity 
cannot be surpassed. The King of Petsi 
communicated it to the Empire of the 
Mikado so that it may be spread about, 
and that thus may be accomplished that 
which is written in the books of Buddha, 
' My doctrine shall extend itself towards the 
East.' " The Mikado immediately consulted 
his ministers upon the reception which was 
due to the statue of the great Kami of India. 
All the nations of the West replied, "Iname 
venerate the Buddha, why should Niphon 
turn its back upon him ! " 

But, objected Wasoki, "If we render hom- 
age to the stranger Kami, is it not to be 
feared that we shall irritate the national 
Kamis?" Thereon the Mikado pronounced 
authoritatively this conciliatory sentence : "It 
is just and equitable to accord a man that 



SHINTOISM AND BUDDHISM IN JAPAN. 



133 



which his heart desires ; let I name revere the 
image." Iname accordingly carried away 
the image, and constructed a chapel for it. 
Nevertheless, an epidemic having broken 
out, it was attributed to the new worship, 
the chapel was burnt and the statue thrown 
into the river. The family of Iname re- 
mained none the less secretly attached to 
the strange doctrine. 

In the reign of Bidas, successor to Kin- 
Mei, the minister Sogano, son of Iname, 
presented to the Mikado a bonze who had 
come from Siura in Corea. The holy man, 
warned of the difficulties which must attend 
the introduction of Buddhism into a countiy 
where the national religion united the people 
and the sovereign so closely, conceived a 
means of procuring the favor of the Mikado. 
As soon as he saw the Mikado's grandson 
at the Court — a little boy, six years old, in 
whose birth there had been something ex- 
traordinary — he prostrated himself at the 
feet of the miraculous child and worshipped 
him, announcing that he recognized in him 
the incarnation of a disciple of Buddha, the 
new patron of the Empire, the future propa- 
gator of religious life. 

Holy and Virtuous Prince. 

The Mikado allowed himself to be per- 
suaded to dedicate this child to the priest- 
hood, and confided his education to the 
Corean bonze. The rest is easily divined. 
This boy became the initiator and the first 
High Priest of Buddhism in the Empire of 
Japan, where he is now revered under the 
name of Sjo-Tak-Daise, the holy, hereditary, 
and virtuous Prince. Far from denying the 
foreign origin of their new worship, the Jap- 
anese considered it their duty to recall it by 
various symbols, such as the elephants' heads 
which I have already described among the 
architectural ornaments on Buddhist monu- 



ments, and, in memory of India, by palm 
plants of a small species acclimatized in 
Japan, which are seen in the neighborhood 
of the Temples. 

It was more easy for them to testify their 
respect for the birthplace of Buddha by cer- 
tain outward signs, than to preserve the 
essence of his religion — that is to say, the 
exact tradition of his life, his personality, and 
his teaching. 

A Miraculous Child. 

According to the Japanese legend, Buddha 
came into the world in a miraculous manner. 
Immediately on his birth he stood upright in 
the middle of the chamber, made seven steps 
in the direction of each of the four cardinal 
points, and, pointing with his right hand 
towards heaven and his left hand towards 
the ground, he said, "Above me on high, and 
below and around me, there is nothing which 
can compare with me, and no other being 
more worthy of veneration." 

In this way is the infant Buddha repre- 
sented, and when his birthday is celebrated 
on the eighth day of the fourth month, the 
people go to his temple and bathe the statue 
in a decoction of aromatic herbs, which the 
bonzes have prepared, and placed at the feet 
of the image in a sort of holy-water font. 
The statue then receives the adoration of the 
faithful, and the more devout sprinkle them- 
selves with this decoction and drink it. From 
the ninth to the fifteenth day of the second- 
month the remembrance of the meditations; 
of Sakyamouni in the solitude of the forests; 
is celebrated. 

This is a week of retreat and of preaching,, 
during which the bonzes teach the people 
that the awakening of supreme conscious- 
ness in the soul of Buddha was in correla- 
tion with the apparition of a brilliant star ; 
that the sage, having attained to the full pos- 



1U 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE- 



session of light, proclaimed during thirty- 
seven days the first book of his Law ; 
during twelve years the second ; during 
thirty years the third ; during eight years 
the fourth, and during one day and one night 
the last, which treats of the Nirwana, or 
final annihilation. They add, that during 
forty-nine years of his ministry he turned 
the wheel of the law three hundred andsixty 



this occasion the celebrated picture of 
Nehanzao, painted by Toodenzou is dis- 
played in the temple of Toofoukzi at Kioto. 
In the center of this great painting 
Buddha is represented, extended under saras 
trees, plunged in the repose of eternal noth- 
ingness. The solemn calm of his face re- 
veals that the emancipation of his intelli- 
gence is consummated ; that the sage has 




GROUPS OF JAPANESE WOMEN. 



times, an image which signifies the com- 
plete exposition of his doctrines. 

The seventh and last day of the festival 
is consecrated to the commemoration of the 
death of Buddha. In each of the places of 
worship dedicated to him a cenotaph is 
erected, and the faithful go from Temple to 
Temple, vieing with each other in their zeal 
for the ornamentation of the holy tomb. On I 



irrevocably entered into the Nirwana. His 
disciples stand around him, contemplatin^- 
him with mingled expressions of regret 
and admiration. The poor and oppressed, 
the pariahs, weep for the charitable friend 
who has fed them by his alms, who has 
begged for them ; for the consoler, whose 
compassionate words open a prospect of de- 
liverance to their souls. 



SHINTOISM AND BUDDHISM IN JAPAN. 



135 



The entire creation is moved at beholding 
him, who constantly respected life under 
every form which it wears in nature, reduced 
to the condition of a corpse. The genii of 
the earth, the waters, and the air approach 
him with respect, followed by the tenants of 
their several domains ; fish, birds, insects, 
reptiles, quadrupeds of all sorts, even to the 
white elephant, the supreme degree of the 
Brahminical metempsychosis. 

A Strange Doctrine. 

This composition, extravagant as it is, pro- 
duces nevertheless a powerful effect. It 
awakens I know not what mysterious sym- 
pathy, and it expresses an idea which is no 
stranger to Christianity ; that is to say, an 
idea of a certain solidarity established be- 
tween man and all the beings of the terres- 
trial creation. As for the principal subject 
of the picture, I believe that no decision has 
ever been arrived at as to the meaning to be 
attributed to it. Does it represent the Nir- 
wana, the supreme end of all Buddhist aspi- 
rations, as the absorption of the soul of the 
just into the divine essence of the Universal 
Spirit, or does it actually make it the 
synonym of annihilation ? The doctrine of 
Buddha is very obscure on this point. 

Nevertheless, the best authority pro- 
nounces in favor of the latter alternative, as 
follows : 

"The Buddhist takes an incontestable fact 
as the point of departure of his doctrine ; it 
is the existence of human suffering in some 
form in all social conditions. Seeking out 
the causes of this pain, he attributes it to 
passions, to desire, to faults, to ignorance, 
even to existence itself. This being so, pain 
can have no other term than the cessation of 
existence. But in order that this end should 
be real, it must be Nothingness, or the Nir- 
wana. There is no other means by which 



man can escape from the circle of perpetual 
re-births, by which he can definitely withdraw 
himself from the law of transmigration. 

"This compound of body and of soul, 
which is called man, can be really delivered 
only by annihilation, because so long as 
there shall remain the least atom of his soul, 
the soul may again be born under one of 
those innumerable appearances assumed by 
existence, and its pretended liberation would 
be only an illusion like the others. The 
only asylum and the only reality is nothing- 
ness, because from that one does not return." 

If the opinion which I have just quoted 
really express the thoughts of the Hindoo 
reformer, we must acknowledge that the 
Buddhist Nirwana surpasses in tragical 
horror every imagination of the ancients 
concerning the mystery of human destiny. 
This conception is the last word of despair 
and the highest exaltation of the Will. In 
proposing to abolish pain by the suppression 
of existence, Buddha plainly takes up the 
ground of atheism, because that end cannot 
be attained by anything short of the abstrac- 
tion of the idea of the Supreme Being. 

The Angel of Death. 

At the same time that Buddha welcomes 
death as the angel of deliverance, he casts at 
him a sovereign defiance, and places himself 
for ever out of the reach of his power by 
destroying, in their last germ, the elements 
of a new birth. Finally, he finds in this 
negative victory, in his final annihilation, the 
means by which he renders himself superior 
to the gods. This is because the gods 
remain subject to the law of transmigration. 

It is difficult to realize that more than one- 
third of the entire human race has no other 
creed than that of Buddhism, that worship 
without God, that religion of Nothingness 
invented by despair. We would endeavor to 



136 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



persuade ourselves that the multitudes under 
this rule do not understand the doctrine 
which they profess, or that they refuse to 
.admit its consequences. The idolatrous 
•practices which have grown out of the teach- 
ing of the book of the Good Law, would 
.'seem, indeed, to testify that that book could 
- -either satisfy nor smother the religious 
•sentiments innate in man, and ever living 
:among all peoples. 

Life Considered Only a Dream. 

'On the other hand, we must not under- 
rate the influence of the philosophy of final 
annihilation in a great number of traits of 
Japanese manners. Children are taught in 
the schools tthat life has no more consistency 
than a dream, .and that no trace of it remains. 
When the Japanese has reached a mature 
age he will sacrifice his life, or that of his 
neighbor, with the most disdainful indiffer- 
ence, to the satisfaction of his pride, or to 
some trifling resentment. Murders and sui- 
. cides are so frequent in Japan that there are 
kw gentlemen who do not possess, and make 
it a point of honor to exhibit, at least one 
isword belonging to the family that has been 
:steeped in blood. 

Buddhism is, nevertheless, superior in 
mrany respects to the religion which it has 
(displaced. Its relative superiority is shown 
iin the justness of its point of departure, which 
is the acknowledgment of a need of deliver- 
ance, based upon the double fact of the 
existence of evil in man, as well as the 
universal condition of misery and suffering 
in the world. 

The promise of the worship of the Kamis 
has reference to the present life. The rules 
of the purification were to preserve the faith- 
ful from five great evils — the fire of heaven, 
sickness, poverty, exile, and premature death. 
The pomps of its religious festivals had for 



their sole aim the glorification of the heroes 
of the Empire. But though patriotism may 
be idealized to the extent of becoming the 
national worship, it is no less true that this 
natural sentiment, precious and praiseworthy 
in itself, cannot suffice to fill up the mind and 
satisfy all its needs. 

The human soul is greater than the world. 
It requires a religion which detaches it from 
the earth. Buddhism, in a certain sense, re- 
sponds to aspirations of this kind previously 
misunderstood. 

This circumstance in itself explains the 
success with which it is propagated in Japan 
and elsewhere, by the arms of persuasion 
alone; still, nevertheless, we may believe 
that it is not in this abstract and philosophi- 
cal form that it has become so popular, and 
nothing proves that more forcibly than its 
actual condition. 

Curious Old Legend. 

Japan, like India, has produced ascetics, 
mortified by abstinence and plunged in ab- 
straction, but their number is very small, and 
the most illustrious among them was a Hin- 
doo by origin. He is Buddhi-Dharma, the 
founder of the Sen-sjou sect. He came to 
Japan in A. D. 613. The legend represents 
him as traversing the straits of Corea, stand- 
ing upon one of the large leaves of the tree 
called "aschi," or upon a simple reed. He 
had prepared himself for his mission by a re- 
treat of nine consecutive years in the Corean 
temple of Schao-lin, which he passed in squat 
ting upon a mat with his face invariably turned 
to the side of the wall. 

Buddha had recommended to his disciples 
the exercise of the Dhyana — that is to say, 
Contemplation. The bonzes, desiring to 
systematize this exercise, made of the 
Dhyana a sort of mystic ladder of two 
stages, each divided into four steps. In 



SHINTOISM AND BUDDHISM IN JAPAN. 



13T' 



order to climb the first ladder, the ascetic 
must be detached from every other desire 
than that of the Nirwana. In this state of 
soul he still judges and reasons; but he is 
sheltered from the seductions of evil, and the 
feeling that this first step opens to him the 
perspective of the Nirwana, places him in an 
ecstatic disposition which soon permits him 
to attain to the second degree. 

At the second step the purity of the ascetic 
remains the same; but in addition to this 
purity he has laid aside judgment and reason- 
ing, so that his intelligence, which no longer 
thinks of things, but fixes itself wholly upon 
the Nirwana, experiences only the pleasure 
of interior satisfaction, without judging it or 
even undestanding it. 

A Progressive State. 

At the third degree, the pleasure of interior 
satisfaction has disappeared; the sage has 
fallen into indifference with respect even to 
the happiness which he just now experienced 
through his intelligence. All the pleasure 
which remains to him is a vague sentiment 
of physical well-being diffused through his 
body. He has, however, not lost his memory 
of the conditions through which he has passed, 
and still retains a confused consciousness of 
himself, notwithstanding the almost absolute 
detachment which he has reached. 

Finally, at the fourth degree, the ascetic 
no longer posseses this sentiment of physical 
well-being, all obscure as it is; he has lost all 
memory. More than this, he has even lost 
the feeling of indifference, and, henceforth 
free from all pleasure and all grief, whatever 
may be their object, whether within or with- 
out, he has reached impassibility — he is as 
near to the Nirwana as he can be during this 
life. 

Then it is that the ascetic is permitted to 
approach the second stage of the Dhyana, 



the four superposed regions of the world! 
without forms. He first enters into the: 
region of the infinite in space. From this, 
"he climbs a new step, into the region ofr 
the infinite of intelligence. Having attained! 
to this height, he enters upon a third region,, 
that in which nothing exists. But, as in this • 
vacuum and in this darkness an idea might 
remain, to represent to the ascetic the nothing- 
ness into which he is plunging, he- requires a. 
last and supreme effort to enter tfle- fourth 
region of the world without forms, where- 
there are no longer ideas, or even an idea, oft 
the absence of ideas. 

Hiding Works and Showing Sins. 

Such are the mystic exercises of Buddhist 1 : 
contemplation, of which the Buddhi-Dharmai 
was the promoter in Japan. The other." 
apostles, his successors, walk in the foot- 
steps of Buddha in the same manner — that: 
is to say, by substituting, each after his; 
fashion, exterior practices for the spontaneity 
of piety and the activity of intelligence. The: 
master said to his disciples, " Go, all men oir 
piety, hide your good works and show your; 
sins." 

So the bonzes instituted processions off 
penitents. Gentleness was one of the prin- 
cipal traits of Sakyamouni's character. His 
compassion extended itself to all created! 
beings. When his doctrine spread amongst: 
the Japanese, the latter had already made it: 
a law that the flesh of no domestic animal 
should be eaten. This custom had, among 
other economical effects, the advantage ot 
preventing a rise in the price of the buffalo, 
which in the rice country is absolutely indis- 
pensable to the poorest cultivators. 

Certain other Buddhist sects went so far 
as to proscribe every other nourishment than 
the vegetable. Sakyamouni recommended 
abstinence, not only from lying and evil- 



13,9 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



speaking, but also from every idle word. 
Silence took its place among other monastic 
vows. In the same way abnegation, purity 
of morals, patience, and perseverance, were 
erected into ordinances, regulating, in the 
most minute detail, the costume, food, and 
employment of the hours of the day and the 
night. 

Because Buddha had shown himself inde- 



the doctrine of the Hindoo reformer, the 
latter virtue, in the opinion of the bonzes, 
dispensed with all other virtues. " With the 
exception of one sect," writes a Japanese 
author, " our bonzes tend to maintain the 
people, and above all, the peasants, in pro- 
found ignorance. They say that blind faith 
is sufficient to lead to perfection." 

The High priest Foudaisi, who came from 




STATUES FROM THE TEMPLE OF THE FIVE HUNDRED GENII. 



fatigable in soliciting the commiseration of 
the rich on behalf of all who were unfortu- 
nate, fraternities of mendicant monks were 
organized. Because he had declared him- 
self equally well-disposed towards men who 
were despised by society as towards those 
who were respected, and that he would ex- 
pound his law to the ignorant as well as the 

vise, ignorance was made a cardinal virtue. 

Vhile knowledge was allied with this faith in 



China with his two sons Fousjoo and Fouken, 
invented a mechanical process for the purpose 
of relieving the bonzes from turning the wheel 
of the law. Then he constructed the Rinzoo 
a sort of moveable chorister's desk turning 
upon a pivot, and spread out upon it the 
rolls of the sacred books. His adepts 
received from him, according to the degree 
of their devotion, authority to make a quarter 
of a turn, a half turn, or three-quarters of a 



SHINTOISM AND BUDDHISM IN JAPAN. 



139 



turn of the Rinzoo ; they very rarely ob- 
tained the favor of an entire turn, because 
that was an act as meritorious as if all the 
books of the law had been recited from end 
to end. 

The bonzes Sinran, Nitziten, and thirty 
others, became famous as the founders of 
sects, in which each was distinguished by 
some peculiarity more or less worthy to rival 
the ingenious invention of Foudaisi. Thus 
the monopoly of the great family rosary is 
conferred upon a certain confraternity. We 
must bear in mind that the Buddhist rosary 
has no virtue unless it be correctly told. 

Correcting Errors. 

Now there is no guarantee that, in a 
numerous family, some errors may not occur 
in the use of the rosary ; hence it is some- 
times reproached with uselessness. Instead 
of recriminating in the case, true wisdom 
consists in sending for a bonze of the great 
rosary to come to the house to put things in 
good order. He comes there with his bead 
chaplet, which is something like a good- 
sized boa, and places it in the hands of the 
entire family, who are ranged in a circle, 
while he stands before the altar of the domes- 
tic idol, and directs the operations by means 
of a bell and a little hammer. 

At a given signal the father, the mother, 
and the children, shout out their daily prayers 
at the top of their voices. The small beads, 
the large beads, and the blows of the hammer 
succeed each other with cadenced regularity. 
The exercise of the rosary becomes animated, 
the cries become passionate, hands and arms 
obey with the precision of a machine, till the 
body is worn out with fatigue. Finally, the 
termination of the ceremony leaves the whole 
family out of breath, exhausted, but radiant 
with happiness, because their intercessory 
gods are now satisfied. 



Buddhism is a flexible, insinuating and 
conciliatory religion, accommodating itself 
to the genius and the habits of a widely 
diverse people. Ever since its commence- 
ment in Japan, the bonzes have succeeded in 
getting hold of the little chapels ol the 
Kamis, and placing them within the precincts 
of their sanctuaries. They have added to 
their ceremonies several symbols borrowed 
from the ancient national worship ; and, in 
order to mix up the two religions more effec- 
tually, they have introduced into their 
temples the Kamis, to whom they give the 
title and attributes of the Hindoo divinities, 
and Hindoo divinities transformed into the 
Japanese Kamis. There was nothing inad- 
missible in such exchanges, which naturally 
explain themselves by the dogma of trans- 
migration. Thanks to the combination of 
the two worships, to which they have given 
the name of Riobo-Shinto, Buddhism has 
become the ruling religion of Japan. 

Colossal Temples. 

When we look at it superficially, it seems 
to do nothing more than add its sanction to 
the veneration of new objects of worship in 
addition to those already received by the 
masses. At first it was the great Indian 
Buddha to whom these colossal statues, of 
which the Daiboudhs or temples of Kama- 
koura offer the finest type, were erected. 
The Japanese idea of a supreme Divinity was 
afterwards personified in the fantastic image 
of Amida, represented under nine different 
forms symbolical of its incarnations and es- 
sential perfections, one of which is expressed 
by the emblem of a dog's head. 

Buddhism has an image, the Queen of 
Heaven ; the guardians of heaven, of whom 
some are also the guardians of the temples, 
the Kings of Earth and the Kings of Hell, 
beneficent genii, avenging genii ; it has 



140 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



placed beside the ancient Japanese Divinity 
of the Sun, the gods of the moon, the 
planets, the signs of the Zodiac, the genii of 
the Rain, Wind and Thunder. 

Finally, it has assigned celestial patrons to 
all classes and all social professions. Among 
this multitude of images, grave and fan- 
tastic, it is not always easy to discern those 
which properly belong to Buddhism. Sev- 
eral were, no doubt, popular in Japan before 
its importation. Perhaps we ought to place 
in this category the god of the thunder, 
Ra'iden, and the gods of the winds, Futen. — 
Ra'iden, the god of thunder and lightning, is 
infinitely less majestic than the Olympian 
Jove. It is a grotesque demon, which beats 
half-a-dozen cymbals, ranged in a circle 
round its head. 

Adorned With Pictures and Statues. 

In the most zealous days of Buddhism, 
the seventh and eighth centuries, the bonzes 
themselves lent a hand in the building of 
the temples and adorning them with pictures 
and statues. But, though the native arts, 
especially sculpture and architecture, may be 
indebted to them for some portion of their 
progress, little good can be said of thebonzes 
or their literary productions. Let us try to 
imagine what the monastic lucubrations 
must be ! They consist of thousands of 
volumes upon the Good Law, upon the 
twenty-eight subdivisions of contemplation, 
upon the glories of Buddha, and the miracu- 
lous lives of the innumerable ascetics, saints 
and martyrs of his religion. The true merit 
of such a literature is that it is absolutely il- 
legible outside that separate world composed 
by the inhabitants of the bonze-houses and 
the regular frequenters of those establish- 
ments. 

Over one hundred bonze-houses, each 
composed of a more or less considerable 



number of buildings, such as monasteries, 
temples, pagodas, chapels, tea-houses and 
shops, form the central division of the quar- 
ter of Asaksa-Imato. The greatest and 
most famous is that of Quannon, a Budd- 
hist divinity, to whom is attributed the 
magical power of intercession between 
heaven and earth. The celebrity of this 
bonze-house completely eclipses all the 
other holy places of the neighborhood, 
so that in the language of the people the 
word Asaksa-Tera is never used to desig- 
nate any other temple than that of Quannon 
in the qyarter of Asaksa. 

Guardians of Heaven. 

At the southern extremity of the square, 
in which there is a permanent market of 
shrubs and flowers, stands a heavy portal 
adorned with colossal lanterns. Two of 
the guardians of heaven, wooden giants 
painted in vermilion, are posted on the 
right hand and on the left of the principal 
entrance, defending the passage, and levy- 
ing upon each pilgrim the traditional tribute 
of a pair of enormous straw sandals. Under 
their eyes, on the eve of each new year, a 
gratuitous distribution of paper amulets is 
made to the populace. 

The bonzes for the most part visit their 
clients on this day, and for a small considera- 
tion bring to their houses bits of the brush 
with which they distribute holy water. 
These scraps are fastened to the lintels of the 
door, and are believed to preserve their house 
from evil spirits. The coolies, and laborers 
of all kinds, flock to Asaksa to have their 
share in the same privilege, because there 
they can obtain it without expense, though 
not without trouble. Two bonzes, perched 
at the risk of their lives upon a platform 
composed of planks suspended by hooks 
half way up the high columns of the door- 






SHINTOISM AND BUDDHISM IN JAPAN. 



141 



way, are distributing an abundant provision 
of blessed papers. They take handfuls of 
them at intervals, and throw them into the 
air. 

The koskeis standing on either side, pro- 
vided with large palm-leaf fans, make the 
amulets fly about and fall upon the people 
like snow-flakes. Let him catch them who 
can. Soon the entire space presents a spec- 
tacle of ordinary confusion ; people pushing, 
elbowing, pursuing each other — some stretch- 
ing out their arms in order to catch the mor- 
sels of paper in their flight, others bending, 
and even rolling themselves on the ground, 
in order to pick them up. Nevertheless, as 
the most fortunate and the most skilful retire 
when they have obtained their share, success 
becomes for their rivals a mere matter of 
patience, and no one is compelled to return 
empty-handed. 

Sacred Objects on Sale. 

Beyond this great gateway is a long, wide, 
paved street, which is called Kindjousan- 
Asaksa-Tera. It is intersected by cross-lanes, 
and occupied from one end to the other by 
booths for the sale of sacred objects, such as 
rosaries, wax candles, statues, perfumed 
vases, and domestic altars. Above and be- 
yond the middle-class houses are oratories, 
small temples, and various curiosities, which 
warmly interest the pilgrims from the town 
and the country. Here is a mia, or chapel, 
consecrated to the Kami worship. There, 
surrounded by a bamboo railing, stands the 
venerable trunk of a cedar of unknown age. 

Further on, in an oratory hung with ex- 
votos, is a miraculous image ; beyond that 
comes a small aristocratic temple approached 
by an avenue of banners planted in the 
ground, each bearing the arms and the family 
names of some one of the illustrious person- 
ages who have honored this place by their 



visits. At the eastern extremity of the 
street, a hill surmounted by a temple rises 
above a little lake covered with water-lilies. 
The tea-houses stretch out their longwooden 
galleries amid the leaves and flowers of the 
splendid aquatic plants. On the other side 
of the public road, a small bonze-house is 
half hidden by a cedar grove. 

At length we reach the second gateway, 
which stands in the great square, almost sur- 
rounded by shops and by the booths of 
strolling actors. On the right, two huge 
sitting statues of brass, the heads crowned 
by the Buddhist nimbus, overlook the crowds 
from the height of the granite terrace. Two 
enormous guardians of heaven defend the 
second doorway, as their colleagues defend 
the first. From the galleries which surround 
the upper story of this building we can see 
the whole square, the high road, and, on the 
north, the first enclosure of the principal 
temple, which has numerous dependencies. 

Thirty-six Arms and a Hundred Hands. 

Under the name of Asaksa-Tera is in 
reality comprehended an agglomeration of 
from forty to fifty sacred buildings, including 
the sanctuary of Quannon-sama, the chief 
divinity and patron of the place, whose 
power of intercession is signified by an enor- 
mous statue, with thirty-six arms and one 
hundred hands, placed at the entrance of the 
temple. Under its protection are grouped 
the chapels of Sannoo, the ruler of men ; 
Daikok, the god of riches ; Benten, the god- 
dess of harmony ; Hatchiman, the patron of 
warriors : in a word, the entire national my- 
thology, not excepting the worship of the 
fox. 

This diabolical animal is worshiped, as 
well as his companion Inari, the patron of 
cereals, on the summit of a wooded hill, 
within the enclosure of the bonze-house. 



142 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



His little chapel, thickly hung with offerings, 
is reached by an avenue in which we pass 
innumerable toris painted vermilion. From 
the one to the other the distance is only that 
of a fox's jump, and they are hardly as tall as 
a man. The road is steep, winding, and 
impeded by the roots of the pines of the 
sacred grove. It is impossible to climb it, 








■^r 



FIGURE FROM AN ANCIENT CALENDAR. 

except with great care and by bending the 
head. 

In that humble attitude we reach the 
esplanade of the holy place. There we must 
pass between two granite images represent- 
ing the malicious divinity in a sitting posture, 
his tail turned up, his muzzle in the air, but 
his oblique eye watching every person who 
approaches the sanctuary. The faithful bow 



respectfully, make their ablutions, cast their 
pieces of money into the box, and kneel in 
prayer on the steps of the chapel. 

Among the numerous buildings placed in 
the enclosure of Asaksa-Tera, a pagoda of 
five stories symbolizes the supremacy of 
Buddhism over other religions. The central 
building is an enormous quadrangular edifice 
— the body painted red, and the colossal 
roof covered with gray tiles. The base- 
ment only is in stone, and supports a 
spacious gallery raised some yards above 
the ground. In the interior of the temple, 
the ceiling rests upon colonnades of red 
pillars; the walls of the nave are adorned 
with pictures on a golden ground. Framed 
images, statuettes, offerings, lacquered 
boards, with inscriptions in gold letters, 
are to be seen on all sides — on the col- 
umns, and on the panels of the side chapels. 
The choir of the temple, dark and 
smoked from the vapor of the incense, 
does not present any remarkable pecu- 
liarity, except that on the high altar is the 
idol Quannon, symbolizing the mother of 
Buddha, behind a trellis of wirework, 
wearing a nimbus and seated upon the 
sacred lotus. This mysterious combina- 
tion excites little notice from the crowds 
of people who pass to and fro, and keep 
up a perpetual tumult in the nave, which 
is not spacious, and is separated from the 
choir by a lofty barrier of carved wood. 
In the choir the bonzes, laden with their 
heavy sacredotal vestments, officiate to an 
accompaniment of gongs and tambourines. 
Some of the faithful merely throw iron money 
wrapped in a white paper at their feet from 
behind the barrier; others buy the candles 
which the sacristan offers them. Before and 
after the hours of worship, a large covered 
box which, in front of the railing, communi- 
cates with the underground portion of the 



SHINTOISM AND BUDDHISM IN JAPAN. 



143 



temple, receives the gifts of the visitors, which 
are expected to be generous. 

The solemn entry of the High Priest into 
the choir makes an immediate diversion in 
the monotony of the service. This majestic 
personage wears a red cloak, with a pointed 
hood and a green silk stole over his white 
robe. He is followed by a young novice, 
who might be taken at first sight for a young 
girl, so effeminate are his face, complexion 
and dress. 

His head-dress is an elegent edifice of 
plaited hair, he wears loose white trousers, a 
white sash tied in wide bows, a short vest of 
green silk, with long hanging sleeves lined 
with white satin ; he accompanies his master, 
step by step, to offer him, at the" first sign 
he makes, a cup of tea contained in a port- 
able vessel, the handle of which he holds in 
both hands. 

Buddhist Commandments. 

On beholding the present ministers of the 
religion of Buddha, we cannot refrain from 
thinking rather sadly of the pious reformer 
whose disciples they claim to be. 

The Buddhist pentalogue is conceived in 
these terms : 

i . Thou shalt not kill. 

2. Thou shalt not steal. 

3. Thou shalt not commit fornication. 

4. Thou shalt not lie. 

5. Thou shalt abstain from all intoxicat- 
ing liquor. 

What has become of the ascetic purity of 
the " Good Law " in the hands of men who 
are plunged, for the most part, in the lowest 
degradation ? What ironical destiny pur- 
sues the precepts of the great Sakya-Mouni 
in the midst of this temple, where art glori- 
fies the corruption of morals, where incense 
burns before an idol who gives indulgences 
for every crime, where the industry of the 



monks is exercised in making money of the 
vices, as well as of the sanguinary passions, 
of the nobility, in imposing upon the credul- 
ity of the people and fostering their pro- 
fligacy ? 

The bonze-house of Asaksa is distin- 
guished for the luxury and variety of the 
costumes of its priest, and for its immense 
personal staff; also for the theatrical pomp 
of its ceremonies. The most imposing is 
the general procession of the Annual Dedi- 
cation which follows the feasts of the purifi- 
cation of the temple and its dependencies. 

Variety of Costumes. 

The superiors of the convent have the 
head shaved, and conform in all its details to 
the rule of Buddhist sacerdotalism ; but 
their authority extends over several frater- 
nities attached to the ancient national wor- 
ship; and each of these wears the hair ac- 
cording to the ordinances of the Dairi to 
which they belong. There is no less variety 
in the costumes and liveries of the masters of. 
ceremonies, heralds-of-arms, cooks, grooms, 
porters and valets attached to the different 
sects of the bonze-houses. 

The grooms of Quannon-sama have the 
care of a couple of Albinos horses, called 
"the horses of the goddess." These sacred 
horses are fed with consecrated beans, and 
enjoy the privilege of sleeping upright, sus- 
tained by a sort of hammock made of strong 
suspending bands. At morning, the priests 
lead them forth before the statute of Quan- 
non, and ask her if she does not wish to go 
out riding. 

The heralds-at-arms have charge of a 
whole arsenal of casques and steel armor, 
and figure in the fetes and in the processions. 
The bonzes often give spectacles in which 
artists play their parts either as dancers or as 
comedians. On these occasions there may 



144 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



be seen, on the fifteenth day of the sixth 
month, a very curious piece — a sword-dance, 
or great military pantomime exclusively exe- 
cuted by the priests. 

But the triumph of Asaksa-Tera is its 
Kermesse at the end of the year. Although 
there is a permanent fair which is frequented 
by crowds every day, and is the habitual 
resort or playground of its great bonze-house, 
it is from the eighteenth to the last day of 
the twelfth month that the sacred residence 
of Quannon-sama displays all its prestige and 
becomes the centre of circulation, not only 
for several hundreds of thousands, but for 
three or four millions of inhabitants of the 
city and surrounding provinces. The entire 
precinct is invaded by the multitude, whose 
waves form regular currents which pass 
backward and forward under the skilful and 
silent direction of the police. 

Such perfect order in the midst of such a 
multitude is only possible in a city like 
Tokio, where not only there are no vehicles, 
but where one word from a magistrate suf- 
fices to prohibit the use of horses and 
palanquins for a fortnight throughout the 
vast space. Thus there is no crush at any 
point. Cords made of straw limit the space 
reserved to each industry. At certain speci- 
fied points there are resting places, and the 
exits and entrances are skilfully arranged. 
No fixed hour is named for closing; the tide 
of humanity rises all day, attains its height 
at sunset, and ebbs rapidly from midnight 
until dawn. 



Buddhism has borrowed in more than one 
instance from the national worship of the 
Kamis. It places the mirror of Izanami on 
its altars, and sometimes, on the threshold 
of its bonze-houses right and left of the 
doorway, we find the mythological dog, 
carved in granite and mounted on a pedestal 
ornamented with Chinese characters. A 
proof that the above-mentioned objects were 
introduced late into Kami worship is fur- 
nished by the remarkable circumstance that 
that religion had originally no priesthood. 

The mias were, in the beginning, no more 
than commemorative chapels erected in 
honor of the national heroes, like Tell's 
Chapel on the shore of the Lake of the 
Four Cantons. The lord of the favored 
country which boasted such a monument 
watched over its preservation ; but no priest 
served at the altar of the Kami, no privi- 
leged caste interposed itself between the 
worshipper and the object of his pious 
homage. Besides, the act of adoration ac- 
complished before the mirror of Izanami did 
not stop at the Kami of the commemorative 
chapel, but went up to the gods of whom 
the Kami was the instrument. Thus the 
chapel was open to everybody, given up 
freely to the use of the worshippers, and 
the worship was devoid of all ceremonial. 
This state of things is no longer main- 
tained in its integrity. Very slowly do 
any changes come in the old stereotyped 
countries of the Orient, yet time brings 
them. 



CHAPTER IX. 
AMUSEMENTS OF THE JAPANESE. 



EACH of the bonze-houses in the city 
of Tokio has its Matsouri, or an- 
nual popular fete; but among 
them there are several which cele- 
brate this festival only once in two years. 
The solemnities are generally interesting 
onlv to the quarter, the street, or the small 
group of faithful who contribute to the main- 
tenance of the bonze-house. To this rule 
there are, however, remarkable exceptions. 
Certain matsouris are in favor with one entire 
section of the city, such as Hondjo; and 
others seem to enjoy an unlimited popularity 
with the whole of Tokio. 

These matsouris, as we may easily con- 
ceive, are far from having preserved the 
patriotic elevation and the noble simplicity 
which distinguished them in the splendid 
days of the national Kami worship. The 
mythical sense of the solemnity is lost, its 
moral signification has fallen into oblivion. 
The fairs and rejoicings which in earlier 
times were only the accessories of the festival 
have n^w become its principal object, or 
rather its only interest. Thus in Europe we 
see how the religious festivals of the Middle 
Ages have disappeared, leaving behind their 
kermesse, or popular fair, which was devel- 
oped year after year under their protection. 
So at Tokio certain feasts recall the names 
of the ancient national divinities ; the goddess 
of the sun ; the god of the moon ; the god 
of water ; the patron of rice ; the god of the 
sea ; the god of war, whose anniversary is 
celebrated on the first day of the Hare, which 
signifies the second month, corresponding to 
Ja.— 10 



our March. But the chief characteristic of 
these solemnities is the theatrical pomp dis- 
played in them, in the processions and the 
choirs of music — the dances and the panto- 
mimes of the priests on the one hand, and 
the masquerades and scenic representations 
in the open air on the other. 

In addition to these attractions, there are 
illuminations, public games, archery, horse- 
racing, wrestling, public lotteries, and every- 
where a market of fruit and fish according to 
the season; pastry, sweetmeats, flowers, arti- 
cles in common use — such as fans, umbrellas, 
paper lanterns, and children's toys. 

Popular Festivals. 

The subject of the matsouris in a city like 
Tokio, where the temples are counted by 
hundreds, is one which it is impossible to 
treat in minute detail. We can only give a 
few rapid sketches of those festivals which 
excite general attention, and attract the entire 
population of the city to their scenes. 

On the fifth day of the fifth month (June 
and July) the crowd repairs in the early 
morning to the woods of the suburb of 
Foutchiou, to gather herbs whose virtue is 
held to be sovereign in cases of contagious 
maladies. An improvised fair on the border 
of the forest enables the pilgrims to provide 
themselves with everything which they will 
require during the day. In the evening the 
priests in the neighborhood proceed to the 
annual purification of the holy place. While 
the temple is being cleaned, a solemn pro- 
cession marches through the woods during 

145 



146 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



the greater part of the night, carrying relics 
belonging to the sanctuary. 

Piles of resinous wood are prepared in the 
court of the sacred enclosure, at the foot of 
the tori in the avenue, and at the openings 
of the forest paths at their diverging points, 
and all along the road which the cortege is 
to take. At a given signal, all these are 
lighted at once, and the procession sets out, 



ately after the band, march the horses of the 
Kami, led by the bridle by grooms attired in 
an antique national costume. They are fol- 
lowed by the High Priests and their acolytes 
and servants, carrying the sacred arms, 
trophies of the ancient heroes. Then pre- 
ceded by the gohei, or antique holy- water 
brush, come two personages, who wear 
masks representing heads of Corean dogs. 




JAPANESE 

having been provided with abundant paper 
lanterns of various colors, and accompanied 
by the music of fifes, gongs, and the big 
drums of the bonzerie. From every side a 
crowd accumulates upon the route of the 
procession, uttering cries, which are echoed 
by thousands of startled birds disturbed 
from their sleep by the strange light and 
clamor. 

At the head of the procession, immedi- 



MUSICIANS. 

They are followed by the entire body of 
priests and their servants, the employes 
charged with the . care of mikosis, the furni- 
ture and utensils of the temple and its de- 
pendencies. When the cortege has passed 
through all the exterior stations, it returns to 
the sacred place, and the flames are extin- 
guished; the crowd disperses to the restau- 
rants in the fair and on the road side, dark- 
ness and silence take possession of the forest. 



AMUSEMENTS OF THE JAPANESE. 



14^ 



On the twenty-fourth day of the eighth 
month (September or October), the fraternity 
of the temple of the Temmango, in Hondjo, 
which is purified on the twenty-fifth day of 
the second month, exhibits the image of its 
god, which is drawn through the principal 
streets of Tokio on a buffalo cart. The chief 
officers of the families who patronize this 
bonze house, and the priests who serve in 
the temple, precede and follow the car, ac- 
companied by coolies carrying coffers and 
baskets, which contain the utensils and 
sacred objects belonging to the temple. 

The Toheisan celebrates its annual pro- 
cession on the second day of the tenth month 
(December and January). The bonzes, on 
their return, read aloud to the people certain 
passages from the holy books ; they also 
give them tea prepared and consecrated by 
them, and permit them free entrance into the 
gardens and the sacred wood attached to the 
convent. The seventh day is consecrated to 
pantomimes, with subjects taken from the 
ancient history of Nip'hon. 

An Imposing Procession. 

In the great biennial procession of the 
temple of Kanda-Miodjin, which is placed 
under the invocation of Kanda the patron 
of Tokio, there is a whole cavalcade of his- 
torical personages, among whom Taikosama 
is especially distinguished. In order to add 
to the effect of this procession the bonzes in- 
vite a certain number of courtesans, who are 
carried in elegant palanquins. The car of 
the saint of Miodjin is drawn by two buffa- 
loes, and by an unlimited number of the 
faithful, voluntarily harnessed to the sacred 
vehicle by straw ropes. 

A few feet behind it a hideous colossal 
head of the demon over whom the saint tri- 
umphed is carried on a platform. The peo- 
ple contemplate with horror the gigantic 



horns and erect crest of this monster ; they 
point out to one another its bloody eyes, its 
scarlet skin and horrible jaws. To add to 
the effect of this spectacle, the bonzes blow 
through their conch shells, producing a ter- 
rible noise. A little further on an enormous 
axe, with which the victorious hero cut off 
the monster's head, is exhibited. 

But all the united wonders of the proces- 
sion of Miodjin fade before the splendor of 
the festival given annually by the priests of 
the temple of Sannoo, which is sacred to the 
memory of Zinmou, the founder of the Em- 
pire of the great Niphon, or Japan. This is 
the most imposing of the matsouris of Tokio. 
It takes place on the fifteenth day of the 
six month. 

The Celestial Herald. 

Tengou, the faithful porter and messenger 
of the gods, heads 'the procession, adorned 
in his brilliant costume as the celestial herald. 
He half unfolds a pair of iris colored wings. 
His smiling air, his cunning eyes, his crimson 
color, his nose of preposterous length, excite 
merriment in the people, and secure the 
warmest welcome for the cortege. When 
the evil spirits find the image of Tengou at 
the door of the temples of the national 
religion, they hasten on. The procession 
has therefore nothing to dread from them. 

The municipal police is charged with the 
maintenance of public order. More than a 
million of spectators preserve perfect disci- 
pline during the whole of this great day. In 
all the streets and all the squares through 
which the procession is to pass, platforms are 
erected for the women, old men and children. 
Places are reserved for those who choose to 
pay for them ; free space is assigned to the 
workmen, but everybody is bound to remain 
quietly in his place during the entire festival. 
Only the sellers of fruit, cakes, and saki, have 



148 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



permission to go beyond the boundary -i ope 
which separates the crowd from the road kept 
for the procession. 

The procession of Sannoo is a kind of 
national encyclopaedia in action, in which we 
find all sorts of historical lessons, mythologi- 
cal symbols, traditions, and popular actions 
mixed up together, just as we see Bacchus, 
Silenus, Noah's Ark, Ceres, and Pomona, 
introduced indiscriminately in the old fete of 
the vine dressers at Vevy. When art attains 
this democratic breadth, criticism must merely 
bow and^be silent. I pass on to the most 
picturesque details of the ceremony. 

The White Elephant. 

Here comes the patron of the sacred dance 
of the Dairi. The image, dressed in the old 
theatrical garments of Kioto, is raised upon 
a huge drum, supported by figurantes in cos- 
tumes of festive form and crowns of flowers. 
This is followed by the procession of the 
white elephant. The animal is made of 
cardboard, and its bearers are skilfully hid- 
den in its capacious body ; their feet are 
hardly seen moving under the legs of the 
colossus, which is preceeded by a band of 
music, composed of flutes, trumpets, big 
drums, cymbals, gongs, and tambourines. 

The men of this group wear beards, a 
painted hat with an aigrette, boots, a long 
robe with a wide girdle, and some of them 
carry Chinese banners covered with images 
of dragons. A little further on a gigantic 
lobster is carried by a priest of the Kami 
worship, and surrounded by a troop of 
negroes. Then come a hundred cultivators 
who are harnessed to the chariot of the 
buffalo ; this king of domestic animals is 
placed upon the vehicle under the shade of 
a flowering peach-tree, and is accompanied 
by the demi-god who introduced him into 
Japan. Six other chariots are laden with 



picturesque trophies formed of the imple- 
ments and products of rice culture. 

A cortege of the priests of the Kami 
religion generally forms a guard of honor to 
a carriage made in the likeness of that of the 
Mikado, a splendid chariot, surmounted by 
the sacred gong and the cock of the Dairi. 
Antique banners, some ornamented by 
sketches of horses, precede a cavalcade of 
superior officers costumed according to the 
Court fashions of Kioto. Suddenly two 
terrible monsters appear ; they have the face 
of the tiger with the horns of a bull. Their 
great tails are elevated high above the hel- 
mets of the men-at-arms who surround them. 
Perhaps they recall under a fantastic form 
the memory of those tigers who gave so 
much trouble to the soldiers of the heroic 
mother of Hatchiman in the Corean fields, 

Banners and Weapons. 

To this group belongs the exhibition of 
the antique arms of the arsenal of the 
Sannoo ; lances and halberds, two-handed 
swords, bows, arrows, war-fans and insignia 
of command. By degrees the exhibition 
loses its warlike character ; in their turn 
appear priests and attendants carrying the 
vases of the sanctuary, and all the furniture 
of the temple and its dependencies undei 
banners covered with hieroglyphic signs. 
Another troop of attendants carry paper 
lanterns at the end of long poles. This very 
effective group terminates the procession. 

Then comes seven of the handsomest wo- 
men in this reserved portion of the capital, 
majestically attired in state costume ; each is 
accompanied by her waiting-woman and by 
a koskei who carries a wide and lofty para- 
sol, which shades her from the rays of the 
sun. Her head-dress is two or three stories 
high, and the edifice is supported by large 
pins of red tortoise-shell. Her face shines 



AMUSEMENTS OF THE JAPANESE. 



149 



with cosmetics carefully applied, thus mak- 
ing her a picturesque figure. 

We may count the number of her robes — 
thanks to five or six collars which hang over 
her shoulders. A wide kirimon envelops 
her and sweeps the ground ; its folds are 
slightly raised by means of an enormous 
girdle composed of an entire piece of silk or 
velvet ; and some inches are added to her 
already noble stature by the curious manner 
in which she is shod with little planks of 
wood. 

The Lady of the War-Fan. 

These seven figurantes are well known to 
all the people. As they pass, their names 
are mentioned on all sides, and, indeed, 
these names are embroidered on their rich 
costume. The first is the lady of the War- 
fan, which she displays upon her wide velvet 
sash ; her robe is embroidered with four 
cocks of various plumage, two of which are 
white, worked upon the ample sleeves of her 
kirimon : the silken feathers of their tails 
wave gracefully in the air with each of her 
movements. 

The second is the lady of the Golden Fish. 
She wears one on each side of her robe on 
a background of waves and foam in silver 
thread. The accessory embroideries rep- 
resent little children playing with ribbons of 
all sorts of colors, who sport on her kiri- 
mon. Need I speak of the lady of the 
Death's head ; the lady of the Candelabra, 
the lady of the Slaves, the lady of the Chry- 
santhemums ? No ! For where should I 
stop if I were to describe in all its details 
the public homage paid to the courtesans by 
the priests and by the people of Tokio ? In 
the presence of such customs we can only 
admire the appropriateness with which the 
great Sannoo admits to the rank of its idols 
and solemnly exhibits in the streets of the 



city, a monkey, with a red face, wearing a 
sacerdotal mitre, and carrying a holy-water 
brush. 

The mocking image mounted on a drum, 
with the rich drapery, is lifted high above 
the crowd, an ironical caricature of the re- 
ligious exhibition which the crowd just wit- 
nessed. 

The matsouris or kermesses of the tem- 
ples of Japan do the government of that 
country a service which will be strongly 
appreciated in Europe, by absolving it from 
the charge of amusing its subjects, who sup- 
ply all funds needful for the purpose out of 
their own pockets. There are Japanese fes- 
tivals which do not consist of representations 
and amusements given by the bonzes to the 
people, but of real public rejoicings, in which 
the people themselves are the only actors and 
the real heroes of the day. 

Congratulations and Presents. 

These are the Go-Sekis, or five great an- 
nual Festivals. They had originally a re- 
ligious stamp, which did not actually militate 
against the gaiety of their exterior manifesta- 
tions, because the moral of the Kami worship 
is, that a joyous heart is integrally in a state 
of purity. 

The Seki of the first day of the first month 
is naturally the chief festival of the new year. 
It is that of visits, of congratulations and 
presents, the latter consisting of at least two 
or three fans, which the visitor brings, ac- 
cording to custom, in a box of lacquer tied 
with silken cords ; but, no matter what the 
nature or the value of the principal gift, it is 
always accompanied by a screw of paper 
containing a dried morsel of the flesh of the 
shell-fish named awabi, or of the siebi, an 
exceedingly common fish ; and this manifes- 
tation is a piece of homage paid to the fru- 
gality of the antique national customs. 



150 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



The family receiving the visit gives a little 
collation composed of saki, rice-bread, and 
mandarin oranges. The lobster plays an 
important part in the exchange of presents. 



The second of the Go-Sekis, the Feast of 
Dolls, takes place on the third day of the 
third month. I witnessed it at Nagasaki on 
the 20th of April, 1863. It is consecrated 




JAPANESE ACROBATS. 



Everv house religiously preserves one until 
the following year, unless it should be re- 
quired as a remedy against certain maladies, in 
which case it is ground to powder and eaten. 



to feminine youth. The mother of the family 
adorns the guest chamber with branches of 
the flowering peach, and there lays out an 
exhibition of the dolls which her children 



AMUSEMENTS OF THE JAPANESE. 



151 



received at their birth. These are very pretty 
and elegantly dressed, representing the Mi- 
kado, the Kisaki, and other personages of 
the Imperial Court. The offering is made 
complete by a feast, which is prepared by 
the young girls who are old enough to do 
so, and towards evening the viands are eaten 
by the company. 

On the fifth day of the fifth month (June) 
a festival of a less domestic character, called 
that of the Banners, is celebrated in honor of 
the boys. Tokio is on this day a charming 
spectacle, especially when contemplated from 
a gallery looking upon one of the wide streets 
of the city, which is decked out from early 
morning with tall bamboos surmounted with 
plumes, or waving horse-tails, or balls of 
gilded paper, and wittulong floating banners 
of painted paper, fish made of lacquer or of 
plaited straw, and above all, with great ban- 
ners stretched on reed-frames, and adorned 
with armorial bearings, family names, patri- 
otic sentences or heroic figures. 

Boys in Gay Costumes. 

The bonze workshops exhibit casques, sets 
of complete armor, and gigantic halberds of 
fantastic forms. Groups of boys in full dress 
occupy the public roads, some wearing two 
small swords, similar to those of the Yakou- 
nines, at their girdle ; others with fine paper 
ribbons on their shoulders carry an immense 
wooden sabre ornamented with various colors, 
and others bear small flags, which reproduce 
the favorite subjects of the street banners. 
The people of Tokio take special delight in 
the picturesque figure of the brave Shyoki, 
the hero without fear and without reproach 
of the first Corean war. 

The crowd delights in contemplating the 
austere face, always immoveable in the midst 
of danger. The wind blows about his beard 
and his long hair ; over his head float the 



two classic feathers of the old helmet of the 
Dairi; his calm, large, and vigilant eyes, his 
right hand armed with the sword, and the 
firmness of his attitude make him a finished 
type of bravery and prudence. 

When the Mongols attempted to invade 
the island of Kiousiou, the Shogun not 
only opposed them with his best troops, but 
displayed before them a great number of 
banners bearing the image of Shyoki, and 
this spectacle alone petrified them with 
terror. 

Merry Singing Girls. 

The fourth great annual feast, that of the 
seventh day of the seventh month, is known 
under the name of the Feast of Lamps or 
Lanterns. Little girls parade the illuminated 
streets of the city of Tokio in great numbers, 
singing with all their heart, and swinging 
paper lanterns. In certain cities of the 
south the population visit the hill cemeteries 
and pass the night amid the tombs. 

The thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth 
are the days on which every one goes to the 
temples to pray for the dead and to burn 
candles for them ; the fifteenth being the day 
fixed for the regulation of accounts for the 
first half of the year. The public rejoicings 
which succeed the fulfilment of this trouble- 
some duty are particularly varied and bril- 
liant. Masquerades, accompanied by national 
dances, take a high place among the popu- 
lar pleasures. All the masks have their sig- 
nification and traditional character. 

There are the noble types ; first the placid 
faces of the gentlemen and ladies of the 
Dairi ; then the fierce physiognomies of the 
heroes of the civil wars. There are also 
masks with moveable jaws, in imitation of 
those worn by the Mikado's actors. Others 
represent the grotesque and divine Tengou, 
the good Okame, the j oiliest of the Japa- 



152 



nese women mentioned in history, or the un- 
happy Hiyotoko, the ideal of ugliness. These 
masks reproduce all the varieties of the race 
of demons — those with one eye, with two 
eyes, with three and four eyes, with horns and 
without horns, with two or even three horns, 
from the sprites to the giants, and even to 
the odious Hanggia, the feminine devil. 

The Famous Man-Frog. 

The final category includes masks made in 
the likeness of Kistne the fox, and Sarou the 
monkey, or the lion of Corea, or of Kappa, 
the man-frog who haunts the shores of Nip- 
hon. The dances are of every conceivable 
description ; the rice-dance alone numbers 
thirty figures, executed by men whose entire 
clothing consists of a girdle of rice-straw, a 
round hat of the same material brought 
down over their eyes, and a small cloak with 
large sleeves imitating the wings of noc- 
turnal moths. 

The fifth of the Go-Sekis falls on the ninth 
day of the ninth month. This is the Feast 
of Chrysanthemums. In all family repasts 
leaves of these beautiful flowers are scat- 
tered on cups of tea or the bowls of saki. 
Libations prepared in this fashion are sup- 
posed to prolong life. The citizen of Tokio 
would believe that he had failed in his duty 
as a husband and father if he drank only 
moderately of this precious specific. 

Among the festivals of the fourth month, 
the eighth day is sacred to the baptism of 
Buddha as he is represented at his birth, 
standing, pointing one hand to heaven and 
the other hand to the earth. Not only do 
his devotees bathe with consecrated tea the 
bronze image of the holy child in the places 
which serve for fonts in the Buddhist temples, 
but the attendants of the bonze-houses go 
through the streets carrying his statuette 
fixed in the centre of a tub, so that the same 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 

ceremony may take place in private houses; 



such solicitude brings them in a considerable 
reward. 

On the twenty-eighth day the people are 
invited to plunge themselves in the contem- 
plation of Fousi-mi, and to make libations 
to the gods under bowers of the plant, 
which is very common in the public gardens. 

The festivals of the sixth month are in 
honor of the cereal harvest — rice, millet, 
wheat, and paddy. The priests bless little 
squares of white paper fastened to sticks, 
which the cultivators buy and plant at the 
four corners of their fields, under the per- 
suasion that these rustic amulets are indis- 
pensable to the fruitfulness of the soil. 
This season of the year is a time of rejoic- 
ing for the citizens of- Tokio, who assemble 
in the shady groves on the shores of the 
Sumida-gawa, or in the gardens of Odji, 
under green arbors moistened with the foam 
of the cascades, or crowd the boats on the 
great river, until the last day of the month 
convokes them to solemn expiation and gen- 
eral purification. 

The Water Divinity. 

The god of the water, an ancient divinity 
of the Kami worship, is feted from one end 
to the other of the Empire during the whole 
of the seventh month, which represents the 
entire term of the rainy season. Bamboos, 
from whose upper branches glass bells and 
strips of blessed paper are suspended, are 
planted beside the springs, the wells and the 
irrigating channels ; and every morning and 
evening banners are waved inscribed with this 
sentence, "Respect and homage to the Goc 1 
of the Water." In the houses of the coun 
try people offerings, consisting of rice, fish., 
and small money, are made on the domestic 
altar of the Kami. 

The eighth month commences by a cere- 



AMUSEMENTS OF THE JAPANESE. 



153 



monious exchange of civilties between clients 
and their patrons, employes and their chiefs ; 
subalterns and their superiors. The fifteenth 
day is dedicated to the god of the moon. It 
is said to be the moment of the year in 
which the orb of night emits its utmost bril- 
liancy. The rivers and canals are crowded 
with gondolas, from which the citizens con- 
template the full moon. The stillness of the 
air and the warmth of the temperature dur- 
ing the evenings of the months of September 
and October are favorable to these nocturnal 
parties of pleasure, also to those which take 
place in the public gardens of the city and 
its suburbs. 

Gifts of Cakes and Fish. 

The tenth month is placed under the 
invocation of Yebis, who is at once the god 
of fishing and one of the favorite patrons of 
the shopkeepers, who make each other pres- 
ents on this occasion, among which are 
millet-cakes and a large red fish named Tai, 
much admired for its beauty and the delicacy 
of its flavor. 

The ladies of Tokio are not less diligent 
in the performance of the duties imposed 
upon them by their social position. They 
pay each other neighborly visits, and do not 
neglect to burn candles before the image of 
Yebis for the prosperity of their husbands' 
commercial enterprises. Early in the morn- 
ing they may be seen going in groups to cer- 
tain bonze-houses, in whose sanctuaries 
there are altars privileged to receive the 
homage of the citizenesses. To perform this 
ceremony the pilgrim is attired in a head- 
dress, consisting of a cotton handkerchief 
of dazzling whiteness, artistically wound 
through the thick hair. 

Towards the middle of the month every- 
one is bound to notice and to communicate 
to his friends the fact that the leaves of the 



maple-palm are beginning to change color. 
At the commencement of the eleventh 
month the maple is in all the magnificence 
of its autumn dress. Crowds assemble in 
the gardens of the bonze-houses and the tea- 
houses. With the winter solstice come gen- 
eral congratulations. 

This is the Festival of Matrons. No pres- 
sure of business, no journey to the city, no 
cause or pretext whatever, can on this occa- 
sion excuse the absence of the husbands 
from their homes. They come from all 
parts of the country, and in the evening the 
city is illuminated on all sides. The sounds 
of guitars and joyous voices fill the air on 
this universal festival. 

The fifteenth day is called the passing of 
the river, by reason of a religious domestic 
solemnity ; it symbolizes the flight of time, 
and the transition to the new year. 

Joyful Ceremonies. 

The twelfth month is devoted to the set- 
tlement of affairs, the renewal of furniture, 
and the re-arrangement of the household; 
operations which involve such a succession 
of ceremonies, formalities, festivals, and re- 
joicings, that a whole volume might be 
written upon the four or five weeks at the 
end of January and the commencement of 
February in the cities and villages. 

Although the great dramatic system of 
modern Japan, the Siba'ia, is far from being 
an aristocratic institution, it is one of the 
most curious in the world. If it does not 
attain to the distinguished literary merit of 
the Chinese drama, or to the perfection of 
acting, it far exceeds both in poetic value, 
because it has more simplicity, more passion, 
more individuality and a more purely human 
character. In China, the public look on at 
the piece and criticise the actors ; in Japan, 
the public take part in the piece in concert 



154 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



with the actors, exchange sentiments with 
them, and, in fact, are part of the spectacle. 
In this respect, the Sibaia reminds us of 
the little day-theatres of Italy, but with 
all the difference which exists between an 
amusing and easy recreation and a great 
popular subject, confused, often unintelligi- 
ble, and whose gaiety is strange and fan- 
tastic. Although the Sibaia is implanted in 
all the cities of Japan, it is at Tokio, and 
especially in the city and the northern 
departments, that it is most active and 
important. The theatres are exceedingly 
numerous, one group occupying three longi- 
tudinal and four cross-streets. 

Japanese Comedians. 

The dramatic authors of Tokio write 
principally for these theatres. From thence, 
new pieces are distributed throughout the 
Empire, and companies of comedians from 
the capital take, like the wrestlers, their holi- 
days in the provinces. The actors are all 
male. Only female dancers appear upon 
the boards, and then in the ballet of the 
Grand Opera only. Comedians form a 
separate class, who are regarded by the 
higher orders with contempt. The Sibaia is, 
properly speaking, the theatre of the middle 
classes of the Japanese population. It at- 
tracts great numbers of coolies and laborers, 
when they can afford to go there, but all 
classes above the traders abstain from dram- 
atic representations, or, if they go, take care 
to sit in latticed boxes. 

Among the crowds which frequent the 
theatrical district it is extremely rare to 
meet two-sworded men, not but that the 
Samoura'is are sometimes mixed up with the 
people, but they take good care to disguise 
themselves on this and other compromising 
occasions. Just before sunset certain delegates 
from the company of actors appear on plat- 



forms raised on the right and left of the 
doors of the theatres ; they are in ordinary 
dress, and harangue the multitude, explain- 
ing the subject of the pieces about to be 
performed, and the merit of the principal 
actors who perform in them. 

After this exordium come familiar jokes, 
pleasant talking, the eloquence of mimicry, 
and the high art of managing the fan. Pres- 
ently the lanterns are lit. " Come in, gen- 
tlemen ! come in, ladies ! " they cry ; " take 
your places! now's the time! the piece is 
about to begin." Nevertheless, nobody is 
in a hurry, for the spectacle in the street 
captivates general attention. The illumina- 
tions afford great pleasure to the people. 
The first row of red lanterns hangs all along - 
the whole length of the roof. A little lowei 
is a second range under the roof. Between 
the two hang balls of transparent paper, 
each containing a painted candle. 

Gaudy Transparencies. 

Near the doors enormous oblong lanterns 
light up the pictures and the inscriptions, 
illustrating the principal subjects and scenes 
of the pieces. Every theatre has its own 
arms and its own colors painted upon ban- 
ners and lanterns, along three sides of a sort 
belvedere or square tower which springs 
from the roof. 

The buildings which adjoin those of the 
Sibaia are occupied by restaurants, and are 
as gaily decorated as the exterior of the 
theatre, with designs and carvings which 
have some relation to the name of each of 
these establishments. One is the restaurant 
of Fousi-Yama, and another of the Rising 
Sun ; farther off we see those of the Tori, 
the Tai Fish, the Merchant Junk, the Stork, 
the Two Lovers, etc., etc. But it is time to 
go into the theatre, and we ascend a wooden 
staircase leading to the second gallery. A 



AMUSEMENTS OF THE JAPANESE. 



155 



functionary opens a spacious box, and a ser- 
vant brings saki, tea, cakes, sweetmeats and 
pipes and tobacco. 

The interior of the theatre forms a long 
square. There are two ranges of galleries, 
the upper containing the best places in the 
theatre. Numbers of ladies are to be seen 
there in full dress — ladies, that is to say, 
covered up to their eyes in crape dresses and 
silk mantles. The whole of the remainder 
of the house is occupied exclusively by men. 
There is no orchestra. The floor of the 
house, as seen from a distance, resembles a 
draughtboard. It is divided into compart- 
ments, containing from eight to twelve places 
each, most of which are hired by the year 
by the citizens, who take their children regu- 
larly to the play. 

Serving Refreshments. 

There are no lobbies. Everyone walks to 
his place on the planks which enclose the 
compartments at the height of the specta- 
tors' shoulders, who squat on their heels or 
crouch on little stools. There is neither a 
ladder nor a staircase by which to get down 
into the midst of them. The men hold out 
their arms to the women and children. The 
settling of the audience in its place forms a 
very picturesque part in the preliminaries of 
the representation. Tobacco and refresh- 
ments are served during the whole evening 
by koskeis and servants, by the same means 
of communication. 

On two sides of the pit are two bridges of 
planks, which also communicate with the 
boards of the stage ; the first is nearest to 
one of the doors ; the second, which is four 
planks wide, forms an angle with the ex- 
tremity of the boxes. On this bridge certain 
heroic or tragi-comic personages perform 
their parts, and the ballet is danced. The 
house is lit by paper lanterns tied to the gal- 



leries ; there is no chandelier from the roo£ 
which is perfectly flat, the cupola being un- 
known in Japanese architecture. I have, 
however, seen large lanterns held up to the 
roof of a theatre at Yokohama in order to 
light up the performance of the acrobats, 
especially that of the flying men, who cross 
the theatre by means of cleverly contrived 
mechanism. 

The curtain which hangs before the stage 



is ornamented by a gigantic inscription in 
Chinese characters, and surmounted by a 
target with an arrow in the centre. This 
symbolical sign is supposed to be a prog- 
nostic of the talent about to be displayed by 
the actors, and which will hit the bull's-eye 
in the hearts of their audience. The per- 
formance generally lasts until one o'clock in 
the morning. It consists of a comedy, a 
tragedy, an opera with a ballet, and two or 
three interludes of acrobats, wrestlers and 
jugglers. 

Ominous Lightning. 

The principal parts are announced by a 
clicking noise, produced by a small piece of 
wood against the floor of the stage. The 
appearance of infernal personages is always 
preceded by lightning. The actors worthy 
of particular notice are escorted by one or 
two ushers, who carry a long stick, at the 
end of which is a little candlestick with 
a lighted candle. The spectators have only 
to follow the combined movement of the two 
lights to know exactly what they ought to 
admire ; sometimes it is the expression of 
the actor's face, sometimes his attitude and 
gesture, and sometimes the details of his 
costume and head-dress. 

The same custom prevails with regard to 
the dancers. The ushers may be seen dur- 
ing the ballet squatting upon the bridge 
which I have described, and profiting by the 



156 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



immediate neighborhood of the spectators to 
get them to snuff the candles with their 
fingers, an office which they always perform 
with pleasure ; it would indeed be impossible 
to find anywhere a more good-humored 
audience. 

In homely comedies the spectators fre- 
quently interrupt the actors, and answer 



artists relate acts of generosity, and record 
the name and address of their benefactors. 

We cannot yet form an appreciation of 
Japanese drama from a literary point of 
view. No piece has been translated into any 
other language. Sir Rutherford Alcock 
gives a detailed analysis of a performance 
which he witnessed at Osaka. In comparing 




A WRESTLING CIRCUS. 



them. Thus audience and actors contribute 
alike to the success of the evening and the 
satisfaction of all concerned. The zeal and 
contentment of the public are manifested by 
their gifts, in addition to the price paid for 
admission. 

Almost every theatre displays innumerable 
scraps of paper fastened to the walls by which 



my home observations with his and those of 
M. Layrle, I have come to the conclusion 
that dramatic art is still in its infancy in 
modern Japan. The political circumstances 
of the country render historical drama impos- 
sible. The nearest approach to it in the 
reportoire of the Sibaiia is an incongruous 
mixture of history, mythology and bur- 



AMUSEMENTS OF THE JAPANESE. 



157 



lesque in which disguised references are 
made to passing events. 

Opera, less advanced even than drama, is 
very much inferior to that of the Celestial Em- 
pire, and imitates it only on its most fanciful 
side, the marvels of the Buddhist demonology. 
Comedy seems to me to promise well, be- 
cause it observes the conditions of the natu- 
ral and the real. It admits, no doubt, like 
opera, of scenes of incredible coarseness. 
Nevertheless, nothing appears more immoral 
to the Japanese than our drama. This ap- 
parent contradiction is easily explained. 
Japanese realism admits on the stage, as 
in romance, types and situations of which all 
licentious literature gives only a feeble idea. 

Subjects That Are Excluded. 

On the other hand, it absolutely excludes 
every intrigue by which the character of a 
married woman is compromised. Neither 
Phaedra, nor Hamlet's mother, the husbands 
depicted by Moliere, nor Werther, nor Char- 
lotte, nor the infamous Madame Bovary, 
could have offered the slightest attraction 
for the imagination of the Japanese. The 
green-rooms and the side-scenes of the thea- 
tres of the far East are no less interesting to 
the foreign observer than the theatre, prop- 
erly so called, and the audience which 
crowds it. 

In these places none but men are to be 
seen, excepting from time to time some ser- 
vants, or the artists' wives who bring refresh- 
ments to their husbands, or come to give the 
last touch to their toilet before they go on 
the stage in the costume of either sex. In 
the midst of the general disorder we find 
some very characteristic groups. Here are 
musicians occupied in refreshing themselves, 
and indifferent to everything else until the 
signal to return to their posts shall reach 
them ; there two actors are rehearsing to- 



gether the attitude and gesture which in a 
few minutes are to delight the spectators ; 
and another, sitting on his heels before a 
looking-glass placed on the floor, is painting 
his face and adjusting his feminine head- 
dress. 

A young devil beside him has thrown 
back his mask, with its horns and its mane, 
over his shoulders, and is fanning himself, 
while the chief of the wrestlers is tranquilly 
smoking his pipe in the midst of the acrobats. 
Among the crowds, carpenters are coming 
and going, carrying the screens and parti- 
tions destined for the change of scene ; the 
machinist is working a trap through which a 
whirlwind of flame is about to escape; and 
the piece is going on outside to the accom- 
paniment of drum beating, amid the conver- 
sation of the public in the house and that of 
the disengaged actors. 

All Sorts of Games. 

In the restaurant there is apparent inex- 
tricable confusion. Everyone crouches on 
his mat, except the servants. All sorts of 
games are in progress, and saki is circulating 
freely. Sometimes a group of dancers install 
themselves round the domestic altar under 
the image of the god of contentment, and 
seldom fail by their guitars and their voices 
to arouse the enthusiasm of some young 
dandy, who will forsake his party, advance 
towards the performers, and execute under 
their fair eyes a very elegant dance to the 
accompaniment of the solemn motion of his 
fan. 

The restaurant supplies all the deficiencies 
of the theatre in point of refreshment, and is 
frequently crowded during the greater part 
of the piece, Everybody knows all about 
it, and does not mind sacrificing a few scenes 
to the pleasures of the table. The so-called 
spectators will eat and drink at the restaurant 



158 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



until the gong gives the signal for the great 
interlude of the jugglers. Then the restau- 
rant changes its aspect completely ; every- 
one hastens to his place in the theatre. 

The Japanese are fond of physical con- 
tests, such as wrestling. The wrestling 
takes place in a sort of huge circus con- 
structed of bamboo framework, covered with 
matting, to keep out the gaze of the people 
who will not pay to go in. There is no 
roof, but the whole amphitheatre is covered 
with a kind of network of rice straw matting. 
Many Japanese entertainments, whether 
theatrical or otherwise, begin in the early 
morning and go on till eight or nine o'clock 
in the evening. 

A Wrestling Match. 

In giving a description of a wrestling 
match, a traveller says : The whole amphi- 
theatre is surrounded with these boxes, in 
tiers. They are only scaffolding, and cannot 
be reached except by ladders placed against 
the front of them. A few had a Red Indian's 
blanket thrown over the front, probably 
because the owner had brought it in his 
riksha and was afraid of its being stolen. 

The price for one of these boxes is three 
dollars, and the Japanese generally squeeze 
about twenty people into them, though they 
would only hold four or five Europeans. 
Underneath the boxes ran a sort of gangway, 
and the rest of the floor was taken up with 
a seething mass of humanity, sitting on their 
hams. 

We arrived about two o'clock, when every- 
thing was in full swing, and passed through 
a sort of temple-yard, containing a few 
priests' tombs and orange and tea stalls. 
There seemed no outward or visible way 
into wrestling, though elevated on a platform 
sat some old men of the large, fat brand they 
use in Japanese wrestling, reminding one of 



the troupe who stand on the little gallery out- 
side boxing booths at country fairs in the 
old country — two or three boxers, the man 
with the hoarse voice, and the fat woman. 
While we were staring despondently at them 
we were overtaken by a man, who considers 
that he can speak English on the strength of 
knowing " more ten sen." 

We asked him to take a private box for 
us. He said, " No box ; pay ten sen." So 
we paid for three, generously deciding to 
frank him to the entertainment for his lin- 
guistic exploits. The tickets we received 
were of wood, ten inches long, by an inch an 
a half wide, and half an inch thick ; and then 
we dived through a door under the stage, 
about three feet high, and found ourselves 
confronted by plenty of unpleasant sights, 
but, to all appearances, absolutely no room. 
The boxes were not only all taken but 
crammed. 

A Repulsive Crowd. 

As for the pit, it was a herring shoal of 
coolies, into which one could not even see. 
Our guide was desperate ; he flew to one 
pew opener after another to ask about a box, 
or even standing room, and finally beckoned 
us forward. 

A passage was drilled through the shoal, 
and we were shot through it into the middle, 
and yelled at by the people behind us until 
we squatted on our hams (for which my 
figure is unsuitable). Horrible, dirty, smell- 
ing people were all around us; and the 
Japanese are reputed to be deplorably care- 
less about the minor infectious diseases, 
measles, mumps, and other childish maladies 
which it is ridiculous for adults to have. 

However, we could see the show, and a 
very poor show it seemed to be — two nearly 
naked Japs, crouching like cats to watch 
each other ; making a cat-like spring at each 



AMUSEMENTS OF THE JAPANESE. 



159 



other ; meeting in mid-air, too alert to be 
caught by each other ; coming down again ; 
drinking a dram of water and putting it out 
again on a piece of paper, with which they 
proceeded to wash the sweat away from their 
armpits ; walking round a little, and then 
doing the cat business again. 

Several times we were on the point of go- 
ing out, but our nerves were screwed up to 
the sticking-point by the arrival of two 
Americans — the Professor of Literature and 
Rhetoric at the new University here, and his 
wife. They were anxious to see the wrest- 
ling, and offered to share the expense of a 
box if one was procurable. One wasn't, and 
we moved on till we found ourselves oppo- 
site a part of the pit which seemed less 
crushed than the rest. 

One of the Giants. 

Within the enclosure stood a huge wrestler 
probably one of the defeated competitors in 
the earlier rounds. He was a good-humored- 
looking sort of a giant, and melted beneath 
the smile of woman. English grace in very 
smart European garments smiled upon him, 
and the giant cleared a space and snubbed 
the doorkeeper. We entered, and craned 
our necks. Presently an attendant brought 
a bench, and invited us to stand on it ; but 
as soon as we were comfortly settled, and 
seeing things nicely, and therefore presuma- 
bly loath to leave, he demanded an extra fee 
for the use of the bench, 

Japanese wrestling is conducted in a 12- 
foot ring, sanded, and on an elevated stage 
under a canopy, reminding one strikingly 
of the fountain canopies in the courts of 
temples, supported by four plain posts and 
with an overhanging roof but no walls. The 
posts are decked with parti-colored cloths, 
and immediately below the roof hang blue 
tabs and a white silk festoon, ornamented 



with a gold sun and stars and decidedly 
Japanese in appearance. 

The umpire on this occasion wore a hand- 
some gray silk costume, with the great 
shoulder flaps which represented full dress 
in feudal time, projecting about a foot over 
each shoulder, and ornamented on collar, 
breast, and cuffs with his crest. He carried 
a peculiar lacquered fan, shaped like a blunt- 
edged double hatchet, and ornamented with 
a scarlet silk tassel suspended by a cord a 
yard long. 

The Contestants Appear. 

Holding this horizontally he gave out 
something in a loud voice, and two wrest- 
lers ascended the platform — stark naked, ex- 
cept for the double silk cross straps round 
their waist and between their legs, and with 
their hair combed in a peculiar fashion, very 
like the snood once worn by little girls in 
England, on the top of their heads. The 
ring had just been swept, and its heroes fig- 
ured about in the sand with their bare feet, 
after slapping their thighs and cocking up 
first one and then the other of their mighty 
legs — this being, perhaps, a recognized form 
of salutation to the audience, perhaps a 
muscle stretcher. Then they carefully wiped 
themselves, and commenced the crouching 
down like cats, watching each other for the 
spring. 

Let us pause to look at them. These 
wrestlers are gigantic, tall fellows, some of 
them six feet high and more; vast of 
shoulder and arm and thigh and calf; and 
mountains of muscle, and some of them 
also mountains of fat. Whether shaved or 
natural, they have no hair on their bodies 
except under the armpits ; and far from hav- 
ing faces of the brutal type usual among 
prize fighters, they have most of them good 
humored, and some of them quite dignified, 



160 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



faces. They are not very like the ordinary 
Japs, but I could not discover that they 
came from any particular locality. 

The modus operandi is this : the opponents 
crouch down like wild beasts till they see 
an opportunity to spring, and both of course 
spring at the same time, one to attack and 
the other to meet the attack. It is a case of 
feint and parry. If the attack is parried 
they go to the side of the stage, take a sip 
of water to wash out their mouths and keep 
them fresh fov a prolonged struggle when 
the grip is actually made. 

Hurled From the Ring. 

One wrestle was terminated by the cham- 
pion wrestler, an enormously fat and heavy 
man, being hurled clean off the ring by a 
slimmer but wirier antagonist. At the edge 
of the stage he was caught by an attendant, 
placed there for the purpose, who must now 
have an adequate conception of a thunder- 
bolt. 

Another was terminated by a wrestler 
being stopped by the attendant in front of 
one of the pillars from being hurled back- 
wards into it. This counted a fall, and cer- 
tainly would have been a very dangerous 
one, that probably would have crushed the 
skull. A third was terminated by one of 
the wrestlers, a man who weighed a good 
part of three hundred pounds, being caught 
round the waist and thrown a foot or two up 
in the air. 

Sometimes the men gripped at arms' 
length, and the bout would then be a very 
long one. In one instance, there were two 
men thus gripped, one with his head under 
the other's breast bone. It was hard for his 
opponent to keep his feet ; but, on the other 
hand, the strain on the neck muscles was 
terrific, and so was the strain on his wind, 
with his chin crushed into his chest. He 



had the better position if he could only last ; 
and he did last, and win, though both fell, 
and his only advantage consisted in his fall- 
ing less on his back than his adversary. In 
another instance, both fell on their backs, 
but one on the top of the other. 

The audience were enormously excited, 
and when a favorite won, his admirers' hats 
were showered upon him like bouquets at 
the opera. These were carefully picked up, 
and kept till the owners should come to re- 
deem them ; for a man flings his hat to 
show that he intends to make a present. 

They watched every little point, and 
waxed almost as enthusiastic over a success- 
ful party and an artful feint as over a fall. 
The place was crammed from floor to ceil- 
ing, and mostly with a not very respectable- 
looking crowd ; but there was no brutality 
or rowdiness or roughness ; and strangers, 
far from being unsafe, were treated with 
special kindness. 

A Perpetual Chow, Chow. 

One of the wrestlers presented the Pro- 
fessor with his programme, and he was 
immensely pleased with my kodak camera, 
which he called " shashin," and showed it to 
all his comrades who came near, whenever 
he was not drinking saki or eating some 
strange compound. 

What people the Japs are, to eat at enter- 
tainments ! It was one perpetual chow, chow ; 
a never-ending stream of hucksters, with 
steaming tea-pots, tea-cups, oranges, sweet- 
meats, villainous smelling mercato-vecchio- 
like pastry, hot saki and what not. The 
vendors climbed round the top tier of boxes 
along the coping, on which many of the 
occupants deposited their boots. For the 
Japanese cannot get over the trick of taking 
off his boots when he enters a place, and if 
he is wearing sandals, or clogs, of course he 



AMUSEMENTS OF THE JAPANESE. 



161 



has to take them off to climb the ladder, 
which is the only way into the boxes. 

At last the ladies thought they had seen 
enough of the human form divine, and we 
determined to go, but no guide was forth- 
coming. That worthy had darted into the 
crowd, like a ferret after a rabbit, in his 
excitement to see the fun ; and though the 
tall wrestler called for him, still there was no 
guide. We waited half an hour for him (for 
which of course he charged us), and then 
started without him. But when we got out- 
side his mate was true to him, and entreated 
us not to go till he had been to look for him ; 
and just at that moment the guide came up, 
breathless. I forgave him for being such a 
sportsman. 

We left about half-past three, but evidently 

Ja.— 11 



the fun was not nearly over, for dashing 
down the hill in front, holding up the horses' 
heads in the way usual in Japan, came a 
Japanese swell with three girls in his car- 
riage ; and we met several other carriages 
evidently bound the same way, besides palan- 
quins innumerable. And what rows and 
rows of them there were already standing. 
Outside the gate, also evidently going away, 
we met three coolies, in typical coolie dresses, 
reeling along as jovially as three real "chap- 
pies " in London could have done. It was 
a good-humored crowd, and the police seemed 
to have nothing to do but to occupy the two 
very best boxes in the amphitheatre, specially 
hung with handsome black and white draper- 
ies in their honor, enjoying the entertainment 
to the utmost. 



CHAPTER X. 
PECULIARITIES OF THE JAPANESE. 



THE high-class schools which com- 
pose the University of Tokio are, 
perhaps, the only neutral ground 
on which the sons of the Japanese 
nobility meet daily and live in common with 
the young, people of the middle classes. The 
separation of ranks exists between them, 
nevertheless, in all its severity : their studies 
also differ in essential points. The young 
gentlemen receive only a certain classical 
culture based upon the books of the Chi- 
nese philosophers, while to the middle-class 
populace the career of liberal professions is 
open, such as the teaching of languages, and 
the practice of medicine ; they are also pre- 
pared to become interpreters and engineers 
in the service of the government. 

The University of Tokio is not only 
placed under the invocation of Confucius, 
but it patronizes the doctrines of the Chin- 
ese philosopher, and spreads them over all 
the educated classes of Japanese society. 
This is done in the form of an aggressive 
propaganda openly hostile to the established 
worships. The University tolerates existing 
institutions, but it destroys the creeds which 
form their soul. I have heard it said by an 
interpreter at Tokio, "The pupils in our 
University no longer believe in anything ; " 
and I knew a functionary of the citadel who 
stated at a diplomatic dinner that all the 
people of cultivation in his country were 
quite on a level with those of Western 
nations, from the point of view of religion. 

The clergy, whose temporal position is 
not threatened, preserve a modest and pru- 
162 



dent attitude towards the literary class. The 
bonzes are not inclined to attack the popu- 
larity with which the memory of Confucius 
is regarded in Japan, where he is universally 
venerated under the name of Koo-ci, a cor- 
ruption of the Chinese name Khoung-Tseu. 
Nevertheless, he was never known there 
until the year 255 of our era. At that epoch 
Ozin, the sixteenth Mikado, enraged at see- 
ing the paternal intentions of his Govern- 
ment paralyzed by the ignorance of his sub- 
jects, begged the King of Petsi in Corea to 
teach him what he should do to instruct the 
people. 

A Hero and Benefactor. 

The King sent him the learned Wang- Jin, 
who made known to the Court the books of 
the great teacher to whom China was in- 
debted for more than six centuries for its 
wisdom and its prosperity. The services 
rendered by the learned Corean to the Em- 
pire of the Mikados had been so highly ap- 
preciated, that Wang-Jin, foreigner though 
he was, was admitted among the number of 
the national Kamis, together with the foun- 
ders of the monarchy and the heroes or 
benefactors of Japan. 

When we endeavor to account for the in- 
fluence which the writings of Confucius have 
exercised upon Japanese society, we must 
acknowledge at the same time that they 
have contributed more than anything else to 
endow it, not indeed with civilization, but 
with the civilism in which it takes such pride. 
It is very difficult to reduce the general prin- 



PECULIARITIES OF THE JAPANESE. 



163 



ciples from which he deducts his moral sen- 
tences to a scientific form. 

Men, according to Confucius, are by- 
nature the friends of each other; it is only- 
habit and education which separates them. 

To perfect oneself is the basis of all moral 
development. 

The means of obtaining this development 
consists in pursuing the enlightening princi- 
ple of reason which we receive from Heaven. 

This reason teaches us perseverance of 
conduct in a right line equally divided from 
extremes. 

The perfecting of oneself is, however, 
only the first part of virtue ; the second and 
most important part consists of the perfect- 
ing of others. 

The Golden Rule. 

The supreme doctrine of humanity is that 
we should act towards others as we wish 
that they should act towards ourselves. 

All social conditions are not equally proper 
to the development of good natural disposi- 
tions. 

He who has the power or faculty of pur- 
suing his moral development, and he who at- 
tains to it, is distinguished from the crowd, 
and to him Heaven gives a mandate to gov- 
ern and to instruct the peoples. 

Nevertheless, although the sovereign holds 
his power from Heaven, the sole guarantee 
whereby he preserves that power resides in 
the support which he derives from the affec- 
tion of his people. Finally, men who are 
supremely perfect have the faculty, not only 
of governing peoples, but of contributing to 
the development of beings, and of identifying 
themselves by their works with heaven and 
earth. 

This is, so far as I can discern, the sub- 
stance of the doctrine of Khoung-Tseu ; and 
no doubt it leaves little to desire, if we re- 



gard man merely as a reasonable being ; but 
if the human organization includes love, the 
life of the heart with its infinite aspirations 
and its mysterious intuitions of eternal 
things, the sage of the Celestial Empire de- 
ceived himself, his doctrine is insufficient; it 
has only the appearance of life, it encloses 
men and states in a circle within which 
humanity degenerates. Great thoughts come 
from the heart and enthusiasm makes a great 
people. 

A Stagnant Nation. 

China, disciplined by Confucius, has be- 
come the type of stagnant nations. The 
Japanese people have escaped from the fate 
of their neighbors, but the government of 
Japan, formed in the school of Chinese phi- 
losophy, has been unable until lately to as- 
similate Christian civilization and has merely 
let its power slip into the hands of the old 
national Theocracy. 

It is a fact worthy of remark, that Khoung- 
Tseu has never been the apostle of any of 
the aristocrotic classes of society. His real 
moral grandeur consists in having isolated 
himself, while in the midst of paganism, in 
the domain of reason, as it were in a fortress, 
and of never having pretended to elevate 
himself into the founder of a new religion. 
He expressly forbids innovations in anything 
whatsoever. 

All his instructions are limited to recom- 
mending the study and the example of the 
old customs. The worship which is paid to 
him in China and Tokio in the temple of the 
University does not constitute, properly 
speaking, an act of adoration, but merely 
one of pious commemoration. It is unhap- 
pily true that this homage degenerates into 
a superstitious respect for the words of the 
master, strengthened by the difficulties pre 
sented by the dry study of his works. 



164 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



In China, and in all countries subject to 
the preponderance of the classical Chinese 
literature, the attachment of the scholars to 
the texts of their favorite author, is strong 
in proportion to the trouble which it gives 
them to fix them in their memory. The 
study of a Chinese book is a most arduous 
task, even for a Japanese; because the national 
idiom of the latter has neither analogy nor 
any point of contact with the language of the 
Celestial Empire. 

Style of Writing. 

The primitive writing of the Japanese 
exists no longer, except as an archaeological 
curiosity ; it has given place to Chinese writ- 
ing, which on its side has undergone the 
most extraordinary transformation under the 
reed of the Japanese. 

Kioto was formerly the literary centre of 
Japan. At present the ancient pontifical 
city possesses a speciality in albums contain- 
ing miniatures; almanacs of the Da'iri; re- 
ligious books ; romances and poems in- 
scribed upon vellum-paper spangled with 
gold stars. But the presses of Tokio are 
far more important in the number, variety, 
popularity and immense sale of their publi- 
cations. The greater part of the literary 
novelties of the capital are produced by the 
Professors of the University or the principal 
pupils of the Interpreter's College. 

They are almost all didactic, of a practical 
tendency, with an utilitarian aim. There 
are among them certain works which we 
may entitle the Scientific Year, the Review 
of Inventions and Discoveries, Statistics of 
Europe and of North America, the Manual 
of Modern History, the Precis of Contem- 
porary Geography, the Annals of Physical 
and Natural Sciences, of Medicine, of Navi- 
gation, of Mechanics and of Military and 
Naval Engineering. 



The ancient Encyclopaedias, which consist 
of more than two hundred volumes, are re- 
placed by a sort of Dictionary of Conversa- 
tion published annually in a single volume 
adorned with a quantity of wood engrav- 
ings. The ethnographical portion of this 
work is the most interesting. All that which 
relates to the clerical and political institu- 
tions of the Empire reduces itself to a dry 
nomenclature. The chapters devoted to the 
description of foreign nations are extremely 
tame and uncritical. One of the most cate- 
gorical deals with the Spaniards and Portu- 
guese, of whom it says, in so many words, 
that they have an extremely bad religion. 

Japanese Books. 

The doctrine of Confucius excludes every 
kind of polemics, because, if men are beings 
naturally good, if several of them have dur- 
ing distant centuries attained perfection, 
then there is really nothing more to dispute 
about ; perfectibility becomes nonsense, and 
progress consists in retrogression, as far as 
those Emperors of the ancient ages, who, 
according to Chinese philosophy, furnished 
humanity with its supreme and definitive 
type. We must, however, acknowledge that 
the time has not yet come for us to judge 
of Japanese literature. Those learned Eu- 
ropeans who are by degrees making it 
known to us have only translated in the 
first place useful books. 

Such are the important works on the art 
of sericulture, and the manufacture of por- 
celain in China and Japan, which have been 
published since 1848. As for the purely 
literary productions of Japanese writers, we 
have very few of them, and the selections 
made by the translators have not been judi- 
cious. No doubt deeper research will give 
us more valuable results, but they will only 
be really profitable when we shall have pene- 




W 
u 



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w 

H 

Pn 
O 

P-. 

o 

pel 

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166 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



trated into the private life of the middle 
classes, and shall have succeeded in getting 
hold of the repertoiy of their plays, their 
legends, their stories, and their festival songs. 
The lower classes are passionately fond of 
listening to story-tellers and singers. Every 
day, at the cessation of labor and of traffic, 
groups of persons of both sexes may be seen 
about the workshops, or, at an angle of the 
cross roads, ranged in a semicircle around 
the professional reciter. 

Musicians and Public Singers. 
National romances and legends are aban- 
doned, by the common consent, to the 
women who live by the trade of singers and 
musicians. They form a very numerous 
class of the Japanese proletariat, but some of 
them are much less nomadic than the others, 
and of an evidently superior class. The 
most distinguished among the public singers 
go about accompanied by three or four mu- 
sicians, and do not themselves play on any in- 
strument. 

The artistic productions of these feminine 
associations are at once dramatic and musi- 
cal, and the effect is very charming when 
they play in the open air, on a fine summer 
evening, within a frame-work lightly con- 
structed of bamboo, ornamented with climb- 
ing plants and with garlands of colored-paper 
lanterns. This is one of the popular specta- 
cles which delights strangers. 

One evening when we had been present at 
a concert by these musicians, I said to our 
yakounines on our way home, that I re- 
gretted very much that I could not under- 
stand the words of their national romances. 
They assured me, laughing and shrugging 
their shoulders, that I lost nothing by my 
ignorance. One of them, however, had the 
politeness to add, that books containing the 
legends recited by the professional singers 



were to be bought of the booksellers in the 
city. 

I afterwards asked a carrier in Yokohama 
to purchase for me all the best productions 
of the kind ; and I am sure he executed my 
commission very faithfully, for he brought 
me a complete library of moral tales, histori- 
cal ancedotes, and heroic or marvellous 
legends. As the greater number of this col- 
lection was illustrated, I had no difficulty in 
recognizing the most popular of their sub- 
jects, and, dipping by chance into the war- 
like series, I found poetical and artistic illus- 
trations of exploits which would put Ari- 
osto's heroes to shame. 

Asahina-Sabro charges a troop of enemies 
and passes through them, lifting up with his 
right hand a soldier wearing a casque and 
cuirass, and spinning him round in the air, 
while with the left hand he kills two equally 
redoubtable warriors with one blow of his 
mace. 

A Gigantic Monster. 

Nitan-Nosiro, the dauntless hunter, astride 
on the back of a gigantic wild boar — which 
has flung down and trodden under its hoofs 
all the companions of the hero — holds the 
furious monster between his knees and 
plunges his cutlass into its shoulder. 

Sousige, one of the horsemen of the 
Mikado, finds his comrades squatting round 
a draught-board ; he spurs his horse, and 
with one bound it stands in the centre of the 
board motionless, on its hind feet, while its 
master, who has not lost his stirrups for a 
moment, sits as firmly in this difficult posi- 
tion as the equestrian statue of Peter the 
Great on its granite pedestal on the banks 
of the Neva. 

The bow of Ulysses, King of Ithaca, ha' 
for a long time enjoyed unrivalled reputation, 
but I fear it is about to be eclipsed by the 



PECULIARITIES OF THE JAPANESE. 



167 



bow of Tametomo ; with which that warrior 
conquered the Island of Fatsisio. He desired 
to avoid bloodshed, and to convince the 
islanders that all resistance on their part was 
useless : he therefore summoned the two 
strongest men of the race of Ainos, and, 
seated calmly upon a mass of rock, he pre- 
sented his bow to them, holding it by the 
wood, and ordered them to try and bend it. 

A Skilful Bowman. 

Each seized it by both hands, and, setting 
their heels against the wood of the bow, they 
leaned back with all their weight and pulled 
the string with all their strength. Every 
effort was in vain ; the bow yielded only 
when Tametomo took it delicately between 
the finger and thumb of his right hand and 
shot an arrow, which was immediately lost 
in the clouds. 

Such is the nature of the heroic literature 
of Japan. It would be much more difficult 
to give an idea of their marvellous or fantas- 
tic legends. The merit of these productions, 
which are generally short poems, appears to 
consist essentially in the choice of expres- 
sions, in the structure of the verses ; in fact, 
in the elegance of the style without any 
reference to the subject, because most fre- 
quently we find, on translating them, that 
they have only a childish meaning, with no 
moral signification or any value in point of 
intelligence. 

What, for instance, can be the point of the 
following anecdote? " The soul of a thiev- 
ing weasel having hidden itself in a bonze's 
kettle, the bonze saw it come out one day 
when he set the kettle on an unusually hot 
fire." This is all ; and this absurdity is the 
subject of an exceedingly popular picture. 
There are, however, among these legends a 
few which, notwithstanding that good sense 
and good taste protest against them, to a 



certain extent captivate the imagination, 
excite curiosity, and provoke reflection. 

Several times I have asked myself what 
can possibly be the origin and the traditional 
cause of the almost religious importance 
attached by all the middle-class families to a 
picture which represents an old man armed 
with a bamboo rake, of the sort which is 
used for raking the ears of rice or small 
shell-fish ; and an old woman holding a 
broom, with which she seems to be about to 
sweep up dead leaves. They stand together 
side by side, or they sit at the foot of an 
ancient cedar, whose cavernous trunk seems 
to be their abode. 

The Tortoise and Crane. 

An interpreter told me that the people of 
his province regard these two personages as 
the Adam and Eve of their country. We 
often find the tortoise and the crane, two 
animals endowed with eternal peace and 
a very long life, frequently associated with 
them, and the good old man and old woman 
are exhibited at all wedding feasts, either in 
the form of a picture or as a table ornament. 
No doubt they symbolize to the young mar- 
ried couple domestic happiness, lasting to 
the extreme limit of old age, as the reward 
of a simple life and a faithful affection. 

On the other hand, there is a tree called 
the Enoki, dedicated to unhappy households. 
It is said to have sprung up on the tomb of 
the first Japanese woman who was divorced. 
If a married couple no longer suit one 
another, they have only to go secretly, each 
without the knowledge of the other, to the 
foot of the Enoki, and there form the inten- 
tion of separating. In a short time the 
separation is accomplished without any diffi- 
culty, and the grateful husband suspends 
a votive tablet on the trunk of the tree 
representing a man and a woman crouching 



168 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



upon the ground, and turning their backs on 
one another. 

Tree-worship, which has existed among 
all ancient races, is limited by the Japanese 
to very old trees. When the lord of Yamato 
wished to furnish his house completely from 
the trunk of the finest cedar in his park, the 
axes of the woodman bounded from the 




STATUE FROM A JAPANESE TEMPLE. 

bark, and large drops of blood flowed from 
every stroke. This, says the legend, is be- 
cause ancient trees have a soul, like men 
and gods, granted to them on account of 
their great age. They are also capable of 
sympathy with the misfortunes of fugitives 
who place themselves under their protection. 
More than one unfortunate warrior on the 



point of falling into the hands of implacable 
enemies has found a retreat in their branches 
or in some old trunk. 

Japanese legend has its Genevieve de Bra- 
bant. A noble lady driven forth into the 
woods gave birth to a son, whom she nursed 
at her breast while she labored for their 
common support. When her innocence had 
been recognized she was brought back with 
great pomp to the Court of the Mikado, and 
her kirimon of leaves was exposed in a tem- 
ple for public veneration. 

To the end of his life her son retained the 
weather-beaten complexion and the crisp 
hair, which he owed to his early mode of 
life. He was accustomed to combat with 
wild beasts, to tame bears and to resist the 
attacks of brigands; he possessed prodigious 
strength and skill, and he has become one of 
the principal heroes of the Empire under the 
the name of Rou'iko. 

Pine and Bamboo Groves. 

The forests, and the pine and bamboo 
groves shelter great numbers of wild beasts, 
among which the monkey, the polecat, the 
badger, and especially the fox, furnish inex- 
haustible subjects for fantastic stories and 
drawings. Animals who attain to a great 
age end, like trees, in becoming endowed 
with a human soul and supernatural virtues. 
The polecat, when it is old, calls the wind 
and the clouds from the mountain-tops. The 
hail and rain obey him. He allows himself 
to be carried away upon the wings of the 
hurricane. 

The traveller caught in the open country 
may courageously brave the tempest, but he 
cannot protect his face from being cut as if 
by a knife. This is the effect of the claws 
of the polecat, who passes him in the storm. 
Old frogs upon the borders of the tanks 
bring down a damp fog into the eyes of the 



PECULIARITIES OF THE JAPANESE. 



169 



belated passenger, who believes that he sees 
the roofs of his hamlet upon the horizon, 
but this is only an illusion which lures him 
still farther into the vast swamp. 

The Yama-tori, or silver pheasant, makes 
a mirror of his plumage. He is an invul- 
nerable being. He does not fly from the 
sight of the sportsman ; but woe to the latter 
if he attempt to harm him, or to pursue him 
into the defiles of the mountains, for he will 
never return. 

Old wolves have the gift of metamor- 
phosis. One especially large wolf suddenly 
disappeared from the country, in which he 
had long been the terror of travellers, but 
when they thought they might henceforth 
go their ways in safety they met, at nightfall, 
just at the corner of the wood, a beautiful 
girl, who carried a lantern, painted like a 
bouquet of roses, in her hand. 

A Beautiful Demon. 

She is well known through all the coun- 
try-side under the name of " the Beauty 
with the Rose-lantern." Alas! every travel- 
ler who has followed her has fallen into the 
jaws of the wolf. There was another girl, 
who, as seen from afar, had all the graces of 
her sex, but a man who saw her face to face 
beheld a demon. 

Tade-yama is a very high mountain, with 
a deep crater in its summit. On looking 
into the gulf, the horrified traveller beholds 
a basin filled with human blood, and this 
blood boils, heated by the volcano ; such a 
place, says the bonze, can only be one of the 
departments of hell. 

All maladies which break out for the first 
time among the people have a diabolical 
origin. The demon of small-pox came to 
Japan by sea. He was dressed in a red 
tunic, and he bore a letter addressed, no one 
knows by whom, to the Divine patron of the 



Empire. In the sanctuary of some of the 
old bonze houses, barbed arrow-heads of 
flint and jasper, lance-heads in the form of 
spits, knives and axes of basalt and of jade, 
are exhibited. 

These instruments, according to the 
bonzes, are for the most part relics which 
have come down from the time of the ancient 
dynasties of the Gods of Heaven and Earth. 
In the southern part of Niphon there exists 
a kind of axe formed of thunderbolts ; and 
stone arrows, which bear witness to the strife 
reigning among the spirits of the tempest, 
still fall in showers when the unchained ele- 
ments menace the habitations of men. 

Strange Story of a Priest. 

Great respect is due to printed books, re- 
spect in fact equal to that claimed for ances- 
tral monuments. The bonze Ra'igo, having 
in a moment of anger destroyed the library 
of his convent, was after his death changed 
into a rat, and condemned to gnaw scraps of 
paper and old fragments of parchment as his 
only food. The evil spirits of the air haunt 
during the night all places were crimes, 
either detected or secret, have been com- 
mitted. 

The souls of misers return to the earth, 
while their treasures, however skilfully they 
may have been concealed, are carried away, 
no one knows how or where. A woman who 
had great revenues refused to marry; her 
motive was pure avarice. When she was 
dead her sisters inherited her property. One 
of them, who loved to adorn herself with 
a dress which had belonged to the dead 
woman, and who hung it up every night on 
a nail at the back of her bedroom door, saw 
a long lank arm protruding from the dress 
and shaking it violently. 

The souls of women who have been unhappy 
wander about the scene of their misfortunes. 



170 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



The souls of women who have committed 
suicide by drowning float in the air as if they 
were about to fall head formost. Women 
who have died in childbed appear to the pas- 
sers-by carrying the infant in their arms, and 
crying, in a supplicating voice, — " Have 
mercy, and receive my child, that it may not 
remain in the tomb." 

Driving Away Evil Spirits. 

A woman having died in consequence of 
the ill-treatment of her husband, the latter 
sent for a bonze immediately after her inter- 
ment, and directed him to place a blessed 
paper, which has the property of dispelling 
evil spirits, upon the lintels of his doorway. 
When the soul of the dead woman came 
back from the cemetery, it could not pass the 
sacred barrier, and thenceforth she cries 
incessantly to all persons who approach the 
house : " All you who pass by take away 
that paper." 

The historical anecdotes present a totally 
different character from the heroic and mar- 
vellous legends. They bear the modern 
impress of the critical studies of the Univer- 
sity of Tokio, and are marked by the cold 
reasoning which distinguishes the philoso- 
phical school of Confucius. 

The American Missionary, Verbeck, has 
made us acquainted with one of the most 
remarkable specimens : " The Collection of 
Virtuous Actions accomplished in Japan and 
China," the work of a Japanese, a native of 
Tokio, and a pupil in the University. A 
short quotation will enable our readers to 
appreciate the book, and the school to which 
it belongs. 

"All men," says the author, " invoke some 
deity to preserve them and their families 
from ill-fortune. Some address their prayers 
to the moon ; others watch all night, in 
order that they may salute the rising sun by 



their homage ; others invoke the gods of 
Heaven and Earth, and also Buddha. But 
to adore the sun, the moon, the gods, or 
Buddha, without doing that which is good, 
is to ask that rice-stems should come out of 
the earth before the grain has been planted. 
Learn then, that in that case, the moon, the 
sun, the gods, and Buddha may perhaps 
have a great deal of compassion for you, but 
they will never cause the rice to grow until 
you have sown the seed." 

Confucius has said : " He who offends 
heaven has nobody whom he can invoke 
with profit;" and a Japanese sage has 
written : " If thou turn not away thine heart 
from truth and goodness, the gods will take 
care of thee without thine invocation. To be 
virtuous is to adore." 

Foretelling a Great Calamity. 

Under the reign of one of the ancient 
Mikados, an unknown star appeared in the 
sky. A celebrated astronomer having ob- 
served it, declared that it was the presage of 
a great calamity about to fall upon the family 
of one of the generals-in-chief of the Empire. 
At this epoch Nakahira was the general-in- 
chief of the left, and Sanegori was general-in- 
chief of the right. On learning the prediction 
of the astrologer, Sanegori and his family 
fled to the temples of Buddha and of Sinto, 
in the neighborhood, and there worshipped 
without cessation, while the family of Naka- 
hira took no precaution of the kind. 

A priest, remarking this, went to Nakahira 
and expressed his surprise. " Sanegori," 
said he, " visits all the holy places, and offers 
up prayers in order that he may escape from 
the misfortune presaged by the unknown 
star; why do not you do the same?" 
Nakahira, who had attentively listened to the 
priest, replied : " You have seen what is 
going on, and you will know how to under- 



PECULIARITIES OF THE JAPANESE. 



171 



stand my justification. When I am told that 
the unknown star presages a misfortune to 
one of the generals-in-chief, it stands to 
reason that the predicted calamity must fall 
upon either Sanegori or upon me. 

" Now when I come to reflect, I know that 
I am of very advanced age, and that I have 
no military talent ; Sanegori, on the contrary, 
is in the prime of life, and perfectly suited for 
the post he holds. Consequently, if I were 
to pray and were to be heard, so as to turn 
away from myself the calamity which 
threatens us both equally, it could only take 
place to the greater peril of Sanegori, and to 
the detriment of the Empire. I abstain 
therefore from prayer, in order to aid as far 
as I can in saving the precious life of this 
man." 

A Child of Seven Years. 

On hearing these words the priest could 
not restrain his emotion, and he exclaimed : 
" Certainly so noble a thought is the best act 
of worship you could make, and most un- 
doubtedly, if there be gods, and if there be a 
Buddha, it is neither upon you nor your 
family that the calamity will fall." 

Whither goes that poorly-dressed woman, 
holding by the hand a young girl seven years 
of age, decked out in her best clothes? After 
having laid her offering before the altar of 
Quannon, she slowly traverses the road 
across the rice-fields, which turns to the 
east, and goes to Sin-Yosiwara. After an 
hour's walking, she reaches the external 
wall of the City of Vice, accessible only on 
one side- — that of the north. She has met 
no woman upon her way. The elegant nori- 
mons of the ladies, whose coolies are carry- 
ing them in that direction, are closely shut. 
Individuals of every rank meet in the city, 
but without saluting each other, without ex- 
changing the smallest politeness. 



Those who belong to the class of Samou- 
rais hide themselves in a complete disguise. 
The houses on both sides of the public way 
appear to be dependencies of the privileged 
quarter. The most miserable are tenanted 
by an immense population of coolies and 
norimon -bearers, bric-a-brac sellers, and mat- 
plaiters. The larger houses contain bathing 
establishments, provision sheds, stores of bad 
books, restaurants, lottery offices, and taverns, 
in which the apparent toleration of the police 
adroitly conceals the control which is in 
reality exercised over the dangerous classes 
of the capital. 

Before the Chief. 

A bridge crosses the canal through the 
rice-fields. Nothing which takes place in 
this neighborhood escapes the notice of a 
double post of Yakounines installed before 
the gates in two guard-rooms opposite one 
another. The gatekeeper on duty conducts 
the poor traveller with her child into the 
presence of his chief. After a few minutes, 
the mother and daughter come out of the 
guard-room, accompanied by a police agent, 
who leads them to one of the chief buildings 
in the street. 

This is the residence of the functionary 
known as the chief of the great Gankiro. 
The mother returns alone, carrying in the 
sleeve of her kirimon a sum of money, 
amounting to about the value of twenty 
dollars. The bargain she has made is duly 
signed and sealed. She has sold her child, 
body and soul, for a term of seventeen years. 

The countries of the far east which suffer 
from an excess of population are those in 
which the inhuman, fundamentally anti- 
social, unnatural character of Buddhist 
paganism is revealed in all its horrors. Its 
every form of pagan worship finds an ac- 
complice in the measures which the govern- 



172 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



merits of China and Japan have taken to | If the girl be grown up, the bargain is still 
preserve their cities from the invasion of more advantageous, because the mother will 



Christian civilization. The opposition put 
in the way of native intercourse with for- 
eigners, the absolute prohibition imposed 
upon their desire to leave their native 
country, have been the true causes of the 
overcrowding of maritime cities. 

Prevalent Vices. 

In order to remedy this evil, Buddhism, 
which is its real origin, palliates and absolves 
everything which has been resorted to by 
perversity, in order to stop the progress of 
population. Thus Buddhism tolerates, in 
China, polygamy and infanticide ; in Japan, 
concubinage; in both countries, prostitution 
organized under every form, brought within 
the reach of all classes of society, and fed 
without scruple by all the resources of specu- 
lation, not excepting traffic in children under 
age, or, indeed, in children of every age, be- 
cause majority is only an illusory right when 
brought into conflict with the will of parents. 

In the greater number of cases these poor 
creatures are the victims of the ill-conduct of 
the father, who has fallen into dissolute 
habits, and who, in order that he may be 
perfectly without restraint, has turned his 
wife and children out of their home. Jap- 
anese wives have no security against a rup- 
ture of the conjugal bond, which may be 
broken by the husband with no greater for- 
mality than the procuring of a letter of 
divorce. The forsaken wife will never have 
an opportunity of contracting a second mar- 
riage. Society condemns her. 

If she has no relations who will receive 
her, she is left to utter solitude, and her 
only prospect is poverty. Under such con- 
ditions, to give up a child under age to the 
Gankiro is to save her from destitution, and 
to defer, at least for a time, her own penury. 



derive from it an annual income during four 
or five years. 

Within the quadrangular enclosure of Sin- 
Yosiwara nine distinct quarters exist, each in 
the form of a parallelogram stretching from 
east to west. On the left of the great gate 
there are five; on the right there are four. 
The former are separated from the latter by 
a long and spacious avenue of trees, which 
forms a beautiful promenade. At one end is 
a watch-tower; and where three angles of 
the city meet is a chapel, built out from the 
wall of the enclosure. A wide cross avenue 
in the centre of the quarter on the right also 
looks like a public promenade ; but it is re- 
served for the inhabitants and visitors of the 
first-class houses by which it is surrounded. 
There, either by day or by night, according 
to the seasons, the feminine notabilities of the 
Gankiro are to be found walking up and 
down, all dressed in the invariable kirimon, 
loaded with embroidery, and in a marvellous 
head attire of tortoise-shell combs and pins. 
Each of these women are accompanied by 
two or three pupils attached to her personal 
service. These young followers wear the 
colors of their mistress, and an elegant head- 
dress of artificial flowers. 

Seeking Amusement. 
The Gankiro properly so called is the 
casino of the fashionables of Sin-Yosiwara ; 
payment is made to the doorkeeper on enter- 
ing, and the visitor is introduced to the con- 
versation room. Admirable order is pre- 
served. Pipes and refreshments, such as 
are ordinarily given at all Japanese enter- 
tainments, are to be had in profusion to sea- 
son the witty conversation of the ladies, one 
of whom undertakes to guide the visitor 
through the gardens and the various rooms. 



PECULIARITIES OF THE JAPANESE. 



173 



Every amusement has its tariff. In one 
of these rooms a vocal and instrumental 
concert will be going on ; in another, char- 
acter dances, both executed by women, pro- 
fessional artists residing at Tokio and who 
have nothing in common with the inhabitants 
of Sin-Yosiwara. These performances, even 
from our point of view, would be by no 
means unworthy of the best company. 

Patterns of Fans. 

A banqueting hall in the Gankiro is very 
curiously decorated ; the walls are hung 
with beautiful sketches, either in " genre " or 
in landscape, some in Chinese ink, others 
colors, but all painted on pieces of card- 
board cut after the pattern of the different 
sorts of fans used in the far East. But the 
greatest curiosity of the Gankiro is its chil- 
dren's theatre. All the actors are young 
girls from seven to thirteen years of age, 
whose education consists of reading, writing, 
arithmetic, singing, music, dancing, acting 
and declamation. Operettas, little fairy pieces 
and costume ballets are executed by these 
children with infinite grace and dexterity. 

It is doubtful whether these pieces are not 
superior in literary value to the vaudevilles, 
the comedies and the dramatic proverbs 
which are played in schools in Europe and 
America ; but the little theatre is certainly 
superior to such things among ourselves in 
talent, vivacity and charming childish poetry. 
The spectacle is very pretty and very inter- 
esting, and yet, at the same time, what can 
be more sad than to see the young girls of 
the Gankiro so carefully educated ? The 
sight only supplies an additional protest 
against these horrible institutions. 

Of a lower grade in the social hell of Sin- 
Yosiwara are the regions frequented by the 
small traders and the hattamotos. Suicide 
through love is frequently committed. The 



lover kills himself because he is not rich 
enough to purchase his sweetheart, and she 
kills herself because she has sworn to be 
faithful to him. 

I have seen on the stage at Yokohama a 
play representing the tragical end of a 
woman, whose tender declarations had been 
interpreted by a young Samourai in another 
sense than that known in Yosiwara. De- 
ceived in his love, outraged in his honor, the 
furious lover strikes off the head of the faith- 
less woman with one blow of his sword. The 
Japanese theatre represents this scene, with 
full detail. The bloody sword flashes, and 
the victim falls under the eyes of the specta- 
tors ; the orchestra breaks out into an ex- 
pression of horror by the combined effect of 
all its instruments. 

A Ghastly Head. 

Suddenly silence ensues, and the hero of 
the piece turns toward the public to give a 
pathetic explanation ot his reasons. At the 
"same moment the machinist moves a trap in 
the front of the stage, and the bloody head 
appears within two paces of the murderer, as 
if it had rolled to his feet. 

Nothing gives such an idea of the im- 
mense circumference of Tokio than follow- 
ing the outer zone of the quarters situated* 
on the south, the west, and north of the 
citadel, for it extends from the faubourg of 
Sinagawa, opposite the six forts of the bay,, 
and the country traversed by the northern 
road beyond Senjou-Obassi; and embraces 
on the north of Hondja those fertile fields 
which are watered on one side by the 
Sumidagawa, and on the other by the small 
river which forms the eastern boundary 
of the three districts on the right bank. 

But a description of the quarters com- 
prised in this suburb would be tiresome, be- 
cause they have all a uniform agglomerate 



174 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



character, and the curiosities which they con- 
tain are all of the same kind : sometimes 
rustic temples built upon the funeral hills, 
sometimes granite statues or commemorative 
tables raised upon the tomb of some cele- 
brated personage, and destined to perpetuate 
the remembrance of a remarkable event in 
the history of the ancient Shoguns. Here 
are tea-houses, great orchards, horticultural 
establishments ; there, are sacred trees, rest- 
ing places set up at the best points of view, 
and sometimes an isolated hill. 

A Continuous Garden. 

Inaka, in a word, seen from a birdseye 
view, looks like a park, or a continuous 
garden dotted with rural habitations; or it 
resembles a garland of verdure and flowers, 
cast round the faubourgs of the south and 
the districts of the west, and uniting them to 
the artisan's quarters, in the heart of the 
city and to the villages which extend to the 
rice-fields. 

When the orchards are in flower, the citi- 
zen, the painter, and the student, are seized 
with rural fancies; they fly from the labors 
and the pleasures of the capital, and hide 
themselves for a day, or for many days, if it 
be possible, among the rustic roofs' of the 
tea-houses. These charming retreats, rich 
with the beauties of nature, are innumerable. 
Most of them can hardly be distinguished 
from the country houses in their neighbor- 
hood. Their vast roofs come down to the 
ground floor. 

Domestic birds flutter, or plume them- 
selves in the sun. on the moss with which the 
roof is covered, and which rises to the sum- 
mit, where we see long lines of iris in full 
flower. When there is no gallery, arbors of 
vines, or other climbing plants, shelter the 
guests grouped negligently upon the thresh- 
old. A limpid spring murmurs and flows 



along the path, which descends towards the 
plain across the gardens and vineyards, the 
poppy and bean-fields, or the great expanse 
of cereal and textile plants. 

In February, in June, and in October, 
three times a year, certain societies accom- 
plish a rural pilgrimage into the villages at 
three or four miles distant from Tokio, 
merely to behold with their own eyes the 
vicissitudes of the seasons and the transfor- 
mations of nature. 

In winter, if the snow should fall, it is con- 
sidered a duty as well as a pleasure that 
whole families should go and contemplate 
the strange aspect of the statues in the en- 
closure, the high pagoda of Asaksa ; but, 
above all, no one must fail to retire to cer- 
tain tea-houses in the faubourgs, to admire 
the spectacle of the bay and the country 
under the novel decoration. In summer, it 
is agreed that the concert of grasshoppers 
must be listened to, and a good family man 
would never fail to take his children, plenti- 
fully supplied with little wicker cages, in 
order to bring back some of these sweet 
songsters. 

Charming Orchards. 
Poets of the spring, choristers of the sum- 
mer, painters and artists who seek for new in- 
spirations, delight to abandon themselves from 
morning to evening to charming study and rev- 
erie among the orchards of cherry, plum, pear, 
and peach trees, among the groves of bam- 
boo, citrons, oranges, pines, and cypress, 
which surround the temples, the gardens of 
the tea-houses, and a multitude of classic 
retreats of the Muses of Japan. When night 
has come they meet in excellent inns, and 
combine with the pleasures of the table the 
enjoyment of society, where conversation 
alternates with songs and music, and draw- 
ings are exhibited in exchange for pages of 



PECULIARITIES OF THE JAPANESE. 



175 



poetry which have been written during the 
day. 

The pencil often intervenes in the capri- 
cious conversation, and the subject of a tale 
or a discussion is illustrated or travestied by 
the imagination of the painter amid the ap- 
plause of the company. 

Blind Shampooers. 

Japanese caricatures generally bear the 
impress of good nature. They are, for the 
most part, taken from middle-class life. A 
grave physician is studying the state of his 
patient's tongue, or examining with a vain 
expenditure of spectacles the ailing eyes — 
he is lifting up the corner of the eyelid with 
great care ; quacks are engaged in the opera- 
tion of shampooing or in the application of 
moxas; a band of blind shampooers on their 
travels have gone astray at a ford, and are 
disputing in the midst of the water as to the 
direction which they should take on reach- 
ing the opposite bank. 

Then we have types of the begging friars ; 
of fishing misadventures ; scenes of feminine 
jealousy and household quarrels pushed to 
violent measures. There are also very com- 
plete series of caricatures, such as the small 
.roubles of life in the great world; the 
household of the fat man, and the household 
of the thin man, and the different grimaces 
which can be formed by the human face. 
And the artists do not spare themselves ; 
for rapid painting, which is held in such 
esteem in Japan, is symbolized under the 
figure of an artist who is working with six 
brushes at once, two in each hand and one 
between each great toe. 

The method which rendered Grandville so 
popular in his illustration of the fables of 
La Fontaine is not unknown to Japanese 
caricaturists. But their pencil is less spar- 
ing; they only exceptionally reach to the 



dramatic energy of the human passions. 
Most frequently they limit themselves to 
giving animals a costume, or an attitude 
which invests them with a certain symbolic 
character. Such, for example, is the per- 
sonification of the twelve signs of the Zodiac 
— the mouse, the bear, the tiger, the hare, 
the dragon, the serpent, the horse, the ram, 
the monkey, the cock, the dog, and the wild 
boar — each adorned with vestments and at- 
tributes relating to their astronomical func- 
tions, or to the parts which they play in 
astrology. 

A sketch, no less harmless, but more 
amusing, represents a rice-warehouse in 
which rats, the most dreaded enemies of 
that precious cereal, form the warehouse- 
men. Nothing is missing in this pretty 
scene, from the cashier making his calcula- 
tions with his bead frame, to the salesman 
turning over his books in order to demon- 
strate to a purchaser that he cannot abate a 
farthing in price. The shopmen are carry- 
ing the bales, of which the purchaser is taking 
an invoice, on their shoulders. 

Adepts at Comic Art. 

The money is in little straw bags, which 
the coolies carry at the ends of their bam- 
boos. Everything is conducted with the 
order and regularity becoming to a great 
house. The smallest details are drawn with 
the care which would be bestowed upon a' 
serious composition. It is in this kind of 
comic art, childish or heroic by turns, 
that the Japanese display most ease and 
originality. 

I frequently noticed a dash of satire of a 
political kind in the numerous and varied 
sketches whose subject is furnished by the 
" trains " of the Daimios. For instance, 
I have seen many in which the personages 
of the cortege, beginning with the prince 



176 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE 

himself, are represented as foxes or mon- 
keys. 

The satirical intention is not less manifest 
in those pictures in which we see the supe- 



which a hare has prostrated himself, tremb- 
ling, at the feet of a wild boar. The hare is 
a little hattamoto out of employment, and 
the wild boar is a high-class functionary in 







INTERIOR OF THE TEMPLE OF QUANNON. 



rior of a bonze-house with a wolf's head, 
and a group of nuns under the image of 
weasels. The most expressive picture I have 
seen of this kind represents an audience in 



Court dress. The one is seeking the influ 
ence and favor of his more fortunate superior 
The taste for the fantastic goes along with 
that for caricature. In Japan, political insti- 



PECULIARITIES OF THE JAPANESE. 



177 



tutions, religion, and nature, all concur to 
excite the imagination and to set it wander- 
ing to the region of chimeras. On the sea- 
shore, the basaltic rocks take forms now 
grotesque and now frightful. The ocean 
itself is a world of mysteries. Sometimes, 
when it is very dark, a light may be seen 
under the water which resembles a dragon. 
Sailors have seen shells darting along among 
the waves. Under the waters of the Strait 
of Simonoseki is a grotto, or rather a temple, 
encrusted with pearls and mother-of-pearl. 
It is called the Riogoun. It is situated in 
the place where the young Mikado Antok 
was submerged with his suite, as he fled from 
the field of battle where his partisans were 
defeated by Yoritomo (i 185). 

Court of Marine Monsters. 

In this temple he reigns and holds his 
Court. His men-at-arms carry long rods 
surmounted by sharks' fins; these are his 
banners. All the sea-gods, wearing diadems 
representing the heads of seals, little fishes, 
medusas, crabs, and dragon's jaws, come to 
pay him homage. This Court of marine 
monsters and drowned men-at-arms has in- 
spired the strangest artistic compositions ; 
equalled only by the revolting scenes in 
which we see the bloody and slaughtered 
victims aiding demons in the punishment of 
their murderers in the infernal regions. 

The Japanese delight in the imitation of 
hideous realities. The wax-work museum 
at Asaksa-tera possesses figures of executed 
criminals, and corpses in a state of decom- 
position. They can also ally the burlesque 
to the horrible, but they do so only in sub- 
jects which are not tragical. For instance, 
they will change the vessels used in religious 
ceremonies, gongs, holy-water brushes, can- 
delabra, perfume vases, altars, images, statu- 
ettes, into so many animated monsters, 
Ja.— 12 



jumping or crawling in an infernal dance, 
led by evil spirits. 

The fantastic has its part in the fascina- 
tions of the tea-houses in the suburbs oi 
Tokio. Some are erected in places propi- 
tious to the contemplation of Fousi-yama, 
and the sight of that extraordinary moun- 
tain, as it appears at sunrise or at sunset 
under the clear sky, or when swept by 
storms, is such as to satisfy the most exact- 



ing imagination. 



The charm of the landscape and mysteri- 
ous cataracts forming cascades, is enhanced 
in other places by mineral springs and basins 
of thermal water, like certain watering-places 
in the Swiss mountains. People do not go 
there for the purpose of cure, properly so- 
called, but they go to pass a few days with 
their families in elegant cedar chalets shaded 
with magnificent trees, on the banks of the 
water-course, which may be compared to 
the finest Alpine' rivers. 

Buying Harvest Rakes. 

Other places of pleasure are specially de- 
voted to one or other of the popular super- 
stitions. The people go from the temples to 
the tea-houses with the satisfaction which 
accompanies the accomplishment of a pious 
task. During the first days of the eleventh 
month the hotel-keepers and the bonzes of 
Yousima-Tendjin receive thousands of pil- 
grims of both sexes, small traders, and agri- , 
culturists, in the faubourgs or the country 
immediately around the city ; they come to 
buy rakes at an isolated temple in a marsh 
on the north of the capital. 

These rakes are of good augury for har- 
vest, and are simply pious playthings, which 
are held as talismans in the dwellings of the 
faithful. They suit all purses and the most 
varied tastes ; some, of colossal size, are de- 
corated with a picture, representing the junk 



178 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



of happiness ; others, of smaller dimensions, 
are ornamented with the sign of the god of 
riches ; the simplest have only pictures on 
paper or on papier-mache, such as the head 
of the god of rice, the mask of Okame, and 
all sorts of mythological emblems. 

As fortune does not confer its favors 
among men in proportion to their stature, it 
frequently happens that, on their return from 
Yousima, the poorest pilgrims carry away 
the thinnest loads, while their companions, 
rich but feeble, stagger under the weight of 
the enormous instruments which their social 
position has obliged them to purchase. 

Comical Costumes. 

The comic effect of the procession is in- 
creased by the peculiarities of the costumes 
of the season. The men wear tight trousers 
of blue cotton and a wide mantle with large 
sleeves ; they are mostly bareheaded, but 
their noses are protected by crape handker- 
chiefs tied at the back of the neck ; others 
cover the head with an ample hood, which 
hides the whole face with the exception of 
the eyes. The women generally adopt this 
ugly hood, and, stuff their arms into the 
thick sleeves of their winter kirimon, so that 
they look as if they had none. 

Amulets to be placed at the edges of the 
fields, in the form of squares of paper fixed 
on a wooden peg, are sold at the temple of 
Yousima ; and the bareheaded pilgrims stick 
them behind the one plait of hair which 
forms their head-dress, like hair-pins, so that 
they look as if they had come from an agri- 
cultural exhibition with the number under 
which they were exhibited stuck on their 
head. 

On the right bank of the river, and on 
the shores of its principal affluents, the 
builders and master-carpenters of Tokio 
have their timber-yards, where the trunks of 



trees brought from the forests of the interior 
are cut into beams, laths and planks. These 
forests are inexhaustibly rich in woods fit 
for building purposes, such as the oak, which 
attains an immense height in Japan ; the 
pine, of which some forty species exist ; the 
cedar of a native species ; the fir-tree, also 
remarkable for its variety ; and the brown 
woods, and black employed in cabinet mak- 
ing or in small ornaments. 

Delightful Retreats. 

The Gardens of Odji-Inari, which stand 
high in the estimate of the city population, 
are situate at the opening of a mountain 
gorge on the northern side of Tokio. A 
small river forming several cascades winds 
gracefully through the valley. On the bank 
above its limpid waters, rises the long gal- 
leries and pavilions of the tea-house, which 
enjoys the coolness of the water and the 
shade of the great trees. The guest cham- 
bers, the verandas, the partitions, and the 
mats, are kept in a state of dazzling cleanli- 
ness. The whole establishment is distin- 
guished by elegance and simplicity. His- 
torical remembrances attach to many places 
in the neighborhood. A hunting-lodge of 
the Shoguns formerly occupied the summit 
of one of the hills, which commands an ex- 
tensive view of the plains watered by the 
Sumidagawa. In a narrow valley, at some 
distance, is pointed out a temple consecrated 
to Iyeyas, who was its founder, also a mira- 
culous spring which falls from an elevated 
wall of rocks. 

This spring is placed under the invocation 
of a stone idol, to which the frequenters of 
the gardens address their prayers. When 
heated by the fumes of saki, they place 
themselves under the falling water and enjoy 
the natural bath. In the little hamlets of 
the plain a quantity of shops or booths offer 



PECULIARITIES OF THE JAPANESE. 



179 



all sorts of curiosities and trinkets to the 
choice of the visitors and their children. A 
lively trade is done by these traders, for no 
family ever returns from a party in the coun- 
try without bringing home some remem- 
brance of the village markets. 

The real secret of the celebrity of the 
gardens of Odji is that they were placed in 
very ancient times under the patronage of 
Inari, the tutelary god of the rice-fields, and 
conjointly under the protection of the sacred 
animal which is his " attribute," that is to 
say, Kitsne, the fox, who deigns to honor 
the country with his particular favor. He is 
worshipped on the hill which bears the 
name of Odji-Inari. On the seventeeth day 
of the first month an innumerable crowd of 
citizens and country people flock to his 
temple. They hang up ex-votos, and de- 
posit their new year's tribute in the money- 
box. Then the crowd disperses, Avandering 
in groups through the groves, and contem- 
plate from afar a great tree in the marsh, 
around which an annual sabbat of the foxes 
has been held on the previous night. 

The Festival of Foxes. 

Persons who pretend to have seen the 
assembly of the foxes preceded by a Will-o'- 
the-wisp and followed by the Spirits of the 
rice-fields, are eagerly interrogated, and bear 
their testimony gravely to the character of 
the festival, the number of the foxes, and 
the greater or less gaiety manifested on the 
occasion. These particulars having been 
ascertained, inferences are drawn from them 
respecting the year which is commencing, 
and the abundance and the quality of the 
harvest are prognosticated. 

Then the visitors seat themselves around 
the "brasero " in the guest chambers of the 
tea-house, and talk in a low voice of the 
mysterious influence of Kitsne in the affairs 



of this world. What is chance? what is 
hazard ? good or bad fortune ? — words 
devoid of sense. And, nevertheless, there 
is something behind these words, because 
every time that one uses them one is forced 
to it by circumstances. The fox has come 
that way. " I," says one of the guests, 
" have had the misfortune to lose a child ; 
the doctor could not even tell me the seat of 
his malady." While the mother was griev- 
ing, the lamps, which were placed beside the 
corpse, threw the shadow of the poor woman 
upon the opposite wall ; everyone in the 
chamber of mourning perceived at once 
that the shadow had taken the form of a 
fox. 

Running Away With the Arrow. 

"And travellers," continues a neighbor, 
" when they see their road prolonging itself 
indefinitely, although they have calculated 
the distance, is it not because they have 
omitted to count with the tail of the fox ? 
How many times have they not wandered 
about the rice-fields, misguided by the Will- 
o'-the-wisp, which Kitsne can make to flicker 
where he chooses. And the hunters, how 
many tricks has he not played upon them ? 
If a good sportsman was to dare to attempt 
to revenge himself, he would only have the 
mortification of seeing the fox bounding and 
jumping before him, and carrying away in his 
mouth the arrow which had been let fly at* 
him." 

The annals of Japan state that Kitnse 
is capable of metamorphosis. When the 
Mikado, who reigned in 1 1 50, found him- 
self under the painful necessity of dismiss- 
ing his favorite in order to save the finances 
of the Empire from complete ruin, the fair 
one escaped from her apartments in the 
form of a white fox adorned with six fan- 
shaped tails. On the other hand, cases no 



180 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



less extraordinary are quoted of the abduc- 
tion of young girls, some of whom have 
never returned, while others on their return 
have closed their parents' mouth by the word 
Kitsne ! Kitsne ! 

When it pleases the latter to disguise him- 
self as an old bonze, he is most dangerous. 
There is always one means of defeating him. 
Kitsne, whatever may be his disguise, never 
resists the suggestions of his nose. Let any- 
one place a rat newly roasted in the path of 
the false priest, and he will not fail to forget 
his personation, and fall upon the prey, for- 
getful of everything else. 

Turned Into Madmen. 

The yamabos or bonzes of the mountains 
generally succeed in keeping Kitsne at a dis- 
tance, because they know how to practice 
upon his weakness ; but they also must be 
particularly on their guard to avoid a sur- 
prise. If the fox succeeds in discovering 
their barrel of saki, woe to them who shall 
taste it afterwards! It is thus that some 
very respectable yamabos have become ob- 
jects of popular derision. A few cups suf- 
fice to turn their heads ; they throw off their 
clothing, utter cries, gesticulate like madmen, 
and execute the most eccentric dances ; also 
danced by two foxes in the same step, and 
who mark the time, one by blowing a sacred 
conch, the other by flourishing about the 
holy-water brush of the poor bewitched 
bonzes. 

It is also said that the peasants, whenever 
they have slept in the rice-fields, are liable to 
be caught in the nooses of Kitsne, who de- 
prives them, according to his fancy, of the 
use of their limbs or of freedom of move- 
ment. The Japanese people have also their 
romance of the fox. They amuse themselves 
with their hero, though they are afraid of 
him. 



Kitsne becomes in turn a sacred, amusing, 
perfidious, and diabolical personage. In the 
morning they pay him homage, in the even- 
ing they turn him into ridicule. But if he 
lends himself to jesting, it is only to take 
a more signal revenge. Let anyone try, for 
example, in family festivals or in social ban- 
quets, to amuse himself at the expense of 
Kitsne, and to try his patience ; when he 
shall have joined the party in earnest, he 
will then soon turn all their heads the wrong 
way, and the night will not pass without his 
strewing the ground with those who have 
given him provocation. 

The game of the fox begins, very inno- 
cently in appearance, with a kind of song 
and clapping of hands. Three attitudes are 
taken alternately. The first consists in rais- 
ing the hands, and holding them half shut 
behind the ears ; the second, in doubling the 
fist and stretching out the fore-arm ; the 
third, of opening both hands and spreading 
them on the knees. This is called the game 
of the fox, the gun, and the yakounine. 

Penalty of Losing. 

•The fox loses against the gun, because the 
gun kills ; the gun loses against the yakou- 
nine, because the yakounine can defend him- 
self; finally, the yakounine loses against the 
fox, because Kitsne is the most cunning 
animal in creation. The losing party is com- 
pelled to drink a cup of saki. 

It is easy to conceive that under the influ- 
ence of such a penalty the game becomes 
more and more animated. Some of the 
players find it too sedentary ; one of them 
rises, and, amid the acclamations of the com- 
pany, procures a long rope, makes a running 
knot, holds it by one end, and throws the 
other to a companion, who stretches the rope 
as tight as he can without spoiling the run- 
ning knot. Behind the latter is placed a 



PECULIARITIES OF THE JAPANESE. 



181 



little stand, on which lies what is called the 
rat — it is a cap or cup, or any other object — 
which the fox must take away quickly, with- 
out letting himself be caught in the noose. 

If the guardians of the rat pull the cord 
between their hands too quickly or too slowly, 
they pay the penalty. If the fox be caught, 
were it only by the end of the finger, he has 
to defray the expense of any amount of drinks 
so long as it pleases the guests of both sexes 
who enjoy the spectacle of his captivity. In 
such cases, the ordinary resources of the 
orchestra fail to express the delight of the 
company. The guests knock their glasses 
or porcelain cups together like bells ; the 
singers imitate the cries of all sorts of ani- 
mals ; the more active hop round the unfor- 
tunate fox, and mock him with every kind of 
grimace. Kitsne of the mountains, from his 
hiding place, contemplates all the details of 
this Bacchic scene, and thrills with pleasure 
when it attains its height. 

Country Picnics. 

Better than this foolish amusement are the 
quiet picnics which take place in the 
suburbs during the fine season. Two or 
three families arrange to pass an evening to- 
gether in the country, either on the shady 
hills which overlook the bay, or in the great 
orchards on the north side, whence a full 
view of Fousi-yama may be had. They are 
preceded by koskeis, who, on reaching the 
place agreed upon, trace out a reserved space 
by means of long pieces of stuff stretched 
on poles. Within this they lay down mats. 
Stoves are prepared, with kettles for making 
tea, and pans for frying fish. The company 
arrive and install themselves, the ladies un- 
packing the provisions, and the festival be- 
gins. It lasts until sunset ; games, singing, 
and music, animate the scene. 

Sometimes professional singers are sum- 



moned to the festival, and occassionally even 
a couple of wandering dancers, whose spe- 
cialty consists of pantomime, posturing, and 
character figures. One of their prettiest per- 
formances is called the fan-dance; it is a 
kind of pantomime, generally executed by a 
young girl in the costume of a page. There 
are also some national dances kept up in the 
society of the town, and these naturally 
have a place among the diversions of the 
country parties. 

Monotonous Dancing. 

Generally, ladies dance alone ; they form 
a quadrille, and the dance consists princi- 
pally of gestures, without any change of po- 
sition, except in passing from one attitude to 
another. They stretch out their hands and 
arms ; sometimes the right, and sometimes 
the left, not without grace or elegance, but 
the movement is exceedingly monotonous. 
A man never dances, except when, inspired 
by the fumes of saki, he imitates some 
choreographic feat which he has witnessed 
upon the stage. 

But, as I have already said, it is not only 
pleasure which attracts the citizen to the 
groves of Inaka ; he loves the place for its 
own sake; he knows it under all aspects 
and in all seasons ; he knows its curiosities 
and peculiarties, its local kermesses, its 
annual markets, at which he purchases a 
part of his household provisions. He goes 
to the public auctions of rice, vegetables, 
fruits, and coal, which take place at fixed 
periods in certain rural districts ; he also 
goes to see the antique cedar on which he 
has painted the initials of his name and the 
date of his first visit; and he knows one 
still more ancient which contains a natural 
reservoir of water celebrated for its efficacy 
against certain diseases. This tree was 
planted by a Kami. 



182 



For a few pennies he is permitted to fish 
in the tanks of the bonze-house, and to 
carry home the results of his sport. There 
is not a convent, or temple, or chapel in the 
neighborhood which is not distinguished by 
some more or less interesting peculiarity. 
Here a group of palm-trees, there bananas 
and bamboos, or evergreen oaks, or maples, 
or gigantic azaleas ; and the monastic orders 
to which the convents belong devote them- 
selves to the education of tortoises and man- 
darin ducks, or to making sweetmeats. 

Many of the hills have a special reputa- 
tion ; this one because it affords the best 
open-air view of the princely spectacle of 
hawking ; that one because it overlooks a 
famous battle-field. Several are covered 
with tombs, ranged in terraces like little 
gardens. The monuments present an infi- 
nite variety of style of ornamentation ac- 
cording to the social condition and sect of 
the deceased ; most frequently a tablet bear- 
ing an epitaph rests on the shell of a large 
stone tortoise, the symbol of Eternity. 

A great number of tombs are formed of a 
socket surmounted by a statue of Buddha, 
or some auxiliary divinity of Buddhism, 
such as Quannon or Amida, standing on a 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 

lotus flower. These images are cut in the 
granite, or the basalt, in extremely fine 



workmanship. The most ancient are moss- 
grown, or smothered in branches of ivy and 
other climbing plants. Gigantic pines, cy- 
press-trees, and laurels, lend a charm by their 
picturesque grouping to the burial places. 

One of the most interesting cemeteries in 
the neighborhood of Tokio is that of the 
Schorin ; it is specially reserved for men il- 
lustrious in letters or sciences. 

At the entrance of the villages, and some- 
times in the open country, we find stones 
erected to commemorate some historical 
event ; and frequently little chapels built in 
honor of some hero who fought in the wars 
which founded the dynasty of Iyeyas. Budd- 
hism has affixed its stamp to every place 
worthy of exciting the attention of travellers. 
There is no grotto without its idol and its 
story; there is no lake which does not con- 
tain a little islet with its temple dedicated to 
Benten. 

It is fortunate for the Japanese that their 
popular superstitions have developed in them 
a love of country life, and a proper regard 
for the vegetable wealth in which their coun- 
try abounds. 



CHAPTER XI. 
THE NEW=YEAR FESTIVAL IN JAPAN. 



THE Japanese have the capital habit 
of squaring all accounts by New 
Year's Day (except with foreigners). 
He who fails to do so, save with the 
consent of his creditor, is a dishonored man. 
Consequently, those who have been unsuc- 
cessful in business during the year, sell 
almost every article in their possession for 
anything it will fetch. 

A million and a quarter Japanese — most 
of them poor — live in Tokio, and to give a 
last chance to the unfortunate debtor in a 
land where interest is perceptible enough to 
be reckoned by the day, there is a great fair 
held every New Year's Eve, extending about 
a couple of miles along the Ginza, — the main 
street, — with a flower market in the cross 
street leading from our hotel and the princi- 
pal gate of the castle to Tsukiji, the only 
quarter of Tokio in which foreigners are 
given the right to have a house. 

Pretty nearly every poor Japanese is more 
or less a shopkeeper, because the front of his 
house is thrown open to the street during 
the day in fine weather, and he is willing 
to sell anything he possesses, if the price 
pays. 

Imagine every one of these who has not 
saved enough money to settle his debts, next 
day bringing as much of his worldly goods 
as he can carry, in funny square boxes, 
slung over his shoulders at each end of a 
bamboo, to be displayed on the pavement, 
or rudely improvised stalls, at the fair. We 
had been told that New Year's Eve and 
New Year's Day were the days of all the 



year in Japan, and that Tokio was the place 
to see them at their best. As soon as it 
was dusk we sallied out into the Ginza t<? 
see the great fair. 

Two miles of stalls — two rows on each 
side of the street — brilliantly lighted with 
flaring and fantastic lanterns, but them- 
selves the most ramshackle erections of dirty 
boards and flimsy cloths ! At intervals fes- 
toons of crimson lanterns hanging slack from 
the street to the flagstaff of a two or three- 
story tea-house (as they call the native inns), 
and strings of lanterns over the saki kegs 
sewn up in matting covered with scarlet and. 
green fish, dragons, and other emblems, 
which are piled up like a wall in front of its 
bottom story. 

Variety of Stalls. 

From every tea-house came the tinkle of 
samisens, or the mouse-like voices of the 
geishas, the singing girls. 

The stalls, as a rag and metal exhibition, 
eclipsed anything I ever saw in the CamDo 
de Fiore at Rome. There were mat stalls, 
cushion stalls, stalls where they sold the 
kimonos (wrappers) and the obis (sashes) 
worn by the natives, or their queer socks 
with divided toes — white for wearing with 
sandals, blue, studded underneath, for wear- 
ing unshod. There were stalls for straw and 
rope sandals and the high wooden clogs used 
in foul weather. 

There were stalls where they sold the 
grass rope and fringe (nawa) used for hang- 
ing along the house front for the first week 

183 



184 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



in the year, to keep evil spirits from passing 
under ; and the big grass tassels with the 
scarlet lobster and the gift bag ; or the 
takara bune, the little plaited grass ship of 
wealth, with the seven gods of riches seated 
in it, one of which devices hangs over every 
portal during the same period. 

Next to this might be a booth where they 
sold nothing but lantern boxes made of 
white card, painted in black with the owner's 
crest or device. These were really very pic- 
turesque, and I had several times longed to 
hang one up over a draught screen in our 
rooms, but had been deterred by the horrible 
suspicion that they were used for conveying 
the ashes of cremated corpses. 

All Sorts of Wares. 

An artist friend — Henry Savage Landor — 
who had been several months in Japan and 
went a-fairing with us, set my mind at rest 
on this point, and I there and then purchased 
one, and carried it with me all the evening, 
filling it gradually with such odds and ends 
as inros (Japanese porte-medicines) ; net- 
sukes (ornamental buttons for stringing 
through one's sash); miniature temple orna- 
ments — censers, candlesticks, flower vessels ; 
the little pocket mirror and comb cases car- 
ried by musumes in their graceful hanging 
sleeves ; the fantastic hair combs and hair 
pins, very old some of them, more or less 
battered, but of exquisite workmanship and 
materials ; the queerest little china boxes, 
some of them only an inch across, holding 
the red or black pigment used for the seals 
which every Japanese carries to impress 
where we give a signature ; the seals them- 
selves, generally of brass ; exquisite little 
bronze and silver charms ; fine old brass or 
bronze ends for paper lanterns ; little ivory 
boxes, hardly bigger or thicker than a gen- 
tleman's visiting card, used for the vermilion 



with which they brighten their lips, and other 
contrivances both curious and artistic. 

The old metal and general curiosity stalls 
were largely in the majority; for, besides 
metal proper, they dealt in inros, netsukes, 
second-hand pipe cases, hibachis (charcoal 
hand stoves), swords and small pieces of 
lacquer. "Ikura?"(how much?) I would 
ask, picking up some charming little bit of 
pottery or metal work — each with its little 
flaw, crack or dent, of course. " Rokuji 
sen" (sixty cents — half a crown) would, 
perhaps, be the answer. I would say, laugh- 
ing, " O Roku sen " (six cents). 

Next time I passed they would call out, 
"Shijiu" (forty), and the next, " Nijiu " 
(twenty), and finally, as they saw my arms 
getting fuller and fuller of purchases, and 
feared that my purse would be running out, 
the proprietor and his wife, and any mem- 
bers of their family they had about, would 
commence kow-towing and smiling, hissing 
and calling out, " Yoroshi, yoroshi. Roku 
sen" (Good — all right! Six cents), and I 
would find myself saddled with something I 
never thought of buying, but, of course, felt 
bound to buy when my offer in fun was ac- 
cepted in earnest. 

Quaint Beauty and Ingenuity. 

Now, when it is too late I wish I had 
bought a hundred dollars' worth of these 
fourpenny-halfpenny treasures to ship 
home. I had taken a hundred dollars out 
with me in case I saw any fine piece being 
sacrificed, as I was told they sometimes 
were, at these fairs, by an embarrassed trader 
who had put off selling till too late ; and I 
could easily have spent the money, and 
spent it well. For every one of these little 
articles — many of them in domestic use by 
quite humble people — had some quaint 
beauty of shape or decoration or ingenuity, 



THE NEW-YEAR FESTIVAL IN JAPAN. 



185 



and I have never seen one of them in Eng- 
land or America. 

A pickpocket did his best to relieve me of 
my hundred dollars at one fell swoop, but 
his ignorance of European pockets saved 
me; the pocket he attempted to pick was 
one of the side pockets of my covert coat, 
in which I never carry anything except a 
pocket-handkerchief. While his hand was 
in my pocket I caught him. I rather ex- 
pected the populace, who were all of the 
humbler classes, to sympathize with him 
against a foreigner. 

Thieves and Pickpockets. 

But much as a Japanese hates foreigners, 
it is nothing to his dread and loathing of a 
thief. The flimsy houses, constantly thrown 
wide open, are so at the mercy of thieves 
that a thief, or pickpocket, is regarded much 
in the same way as a horse thief is in the Far 
West. I thought they would have lynched 
him. I don't exactly know how he escaped. 

But like some more enlightened nations, 
they are more lenient to thieving when it is 
done with the brains instead of the fingers. 

It was a pleasing diversion to turn from 
pickpockets to watch a strolling samisen 
player or a masker. One could hardly be- 
lieve that one's surroundings were not a 
dream. Was it possible that one saw with 
eyes awake that queer old Japanese gentle- 
man in a wide sleeved, deep collared kimono 
of chocolate-colored leather, stamped in 
white with his device, two feet at least 
across; and all these queer coolies, in hose 
and doublets and hoods? 

And what of the crimson lanterns sway- 
ing in the wind, and the tinkle and turn turn 
of Oriental music falling from the lattice of a 
tea-house. We plunged into a tea-house 
from which came shouts of laughter that 
must mean something irresistibly queer to us. 



Out at the back, one of the posture dancers 
who go about in little troupes at New Year's 
tide had a mask, and was going through a 
series of antics which were supposed to 
travesty a Chinaman. Nothing could have 
been more unlike, and the Tokio populace 
are familiar with Chinamen, for there are 
plenty of them in the Tsukiji quarter. 

But they were just as much amused. The 
troupe received about sixpence for their per- 
formance, and were immediately succeeded 
by a troupe of boys with jolly, laughing 
faces, one of whom carried a banner the 
shape of a couple of canister lids, the 
smaller on the top, while the other two 
danced to the music of a flute — the flute and 
the drum constitute most of the music to 
street entertainments in Japan. 

Tea in Tiny Cups. 

Then we went back into the inn to listen 
to a samisen player — squatting down on the 
edge of the raised floor so that the mats 
should not be soiled by our boots. The 
natives always kick off their shoes or sandals 
on entering a house. We had hardly sat 
down before sweet little musumes (girls) 
brought us the pale straw-colored tea in tiny 
little cups, with metal saucers and without 
handles, and trays of queer little cakes. 

But it was growing late, and we had still 
the flower fair to see before we returned to 
the hotel to spend the witching hour, at 
which the old year passess into the new, in 
thinking of home folks across the seas. The 
flower market was even more picturesque 
than the fair, with its rows and rows of 
blossoming plum trees, with blossoms single 
and double — white, pink, deep red, or even 
variegated. These were dwarfed to the size 
of geraniums, with every branch twisted into 
queer curves, and each in a blue or white 
porcelain pot. 



186 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



Without the plum tree in the blue pot no 
Japanese house, even the very poorest, is 
complete at the New Year. The educated 
fir-trees (matsu-ji) were even more dwarfed 
md highly trained, and one could buy either 
3f these, or a beautiful fan palm, in an artis- 
tic pot, for fifty cents ; and for a crown or 
two one of the tiny artificial gardens, a 
couple of feet square, with its trained trees, 
and its lake and its toy pagoda, and bridges 
and stone lanterns (ishidoro). 

Display of Flowers. 

The flower fair, like the other, was a glare 
of light ; and there was the same bargaining 
to be done, with the owner calculating on his 
so-ro-ba, or counting board, every time there 
was a rise or fall of a halfpenny in the offer. 

Suddenly I looked at my watch. It was 
just on twelve. A clock began to strike. 
I paused and shut my eyes on the fantastic 
Orient, while a prayer rose to the crisp, 
starlit sky, and thought flew quicker than 
telegrams to the old home. 

I fancy I can picture you upon this Christmas 

night, 
Just sitting as you used to do, the laughter at its 

height. 
And then a sudden silent pause intruding on your 

glee, 
And kind eyes glistening because you chanced to 

think of me. 

And now good-night ; and I shall dream that I am 

with you all, 
Watching the ruddy embers gleam athwart the 

panelled hall. 
Nor care I if I dream or not, though severed by 

the foam — 
My heart is always in the spot which was my 

childhood's home. 

We did not get back from the fair till the 
small hours, but we were up betimes to see 
Tokio in its great transformation scene — 
decorated for the New Year. 



As every one who has the smallest knowl- 
edge of things Japanese will remember, the 
Japanese have a minute and almost solemn 
etiquette for every operation in their exist- 
ence. It is to an article in " The Transac- 
tions of the Asiatic Society of Japan," 
written by Mrs. Chaplain Ayrton,that I owe 
the precise composition of the decorations 
given below. She says the most striking 
feature of New Year's Day in Japan is the 
decoration placed, more or less complete, 
before each portal. 

Every object in this has its symbolic 
meaning. If the spectator faces the green 
arch which this decoration forms, he will 
have on his right hand the me-matsu with 
its reddish stem, and on his left the black 
trunk of the o-matsu. Though pines are 
genderless, fancy has ascribed to the black- 
trunked tree a masculine gender, and to the 
lighter a feminine. Further, these hardy 
trees symbolize a stalwart age that has with- 
stood the storms and troubles of existence. 

Symbol of Ripe Age. 

Immediately behind rises on each side the 
graceful stem of the take-no-iki (bamboo); 
of which the most convenient kind is 
selected. Its erect growth and succession 
of knots, marking the increase during suc- 
ceeding seasons, make it a symbol of hale 
life and fulness of years. 

There is a distance, usually of six feet, 
between the bamboos spanned by the grass 
rope (nawa), which though convenience 
obliges it to be high enough to pass under, 
should, to accord with its symbolical mean- 
ing, debar all evil and unclean things from 
crossing the threshold. 

In the centre of the arch thus formed of 
pines and bamboos and the grass rope is a 
group of several objects, most conspicuous 
among which is the scarlet yebi or lobster 




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187 



188 



(a crayfish, really), whose crooked body sym- 
bolizes the back of the aged bent with years. 
This is embowered in yusuri branches. 

In the yusuri when the young leaves have 
budded the old are still unshed. So, many 
parents continue to flourish while children 
and grandchildren spring forth. 

In the centre also are the graceful fronds 
of the shida, or urajiro. This fern symbo- 
lizes conjugal life, because the fronds spring 
in pairs from the stem. In Japan, fronds 
growing thus uniformly do not suggest 
equality of the sexes. Between the paired 
leaves nestle like offspring the little leaflets. 

Here and there are gohei, the quaint 
scraps of paper offered to the Shinto gods ; 
according to some, a conventionalized repre- 
sentation of the human form, the offerer de- 
voting himself in effigy to the deities. Ac- 
cording to others these offerings of cut 
paper represent offerings of valuable cloth — 
this is the more usual explanation. 

The Family Tree. 

Almost as conspicuous as the yebi is the 
orange-colored dai dai. There is a pun im- 
plied here, like the play upon words in Eng- 
lish heraldry, for the second meaning of dai 
dai is generation — may the family tree flour- 
ish. The juice of the dai dai is prized as a 
specific against vomiting, as Europeans take 
lemons for a preventative against seasickness. 

There is a pun, too, in the piece of char- 
coal beside the dai dai, for sumi (charcoal) 
has the second meaning of " homestead." 

The honta wara, or zimbaso, a species of 
seaweed, is a memoral of good fortune. For 
about 200 A. D., when the Empress Jingo- 
Kobo reigned, she concealed her husband's 
death lest the people should be discouraged 
in the campaign against Corea. Her troops 
encamped on the seashore were in danger of 
defeat from want of fodder for their horses. 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 

She ordered the honta wara to be gathered 
from the shore for the horses, and refreshed 
by this meal they were victorious in battle. 
At the end of the war she bore a son named 
Hachiman, who from the circumstances of 
his birth became the Japanese Mars. 

Another seaweed decoration is the kobu. 
Here also is a pun on the verb yoro-kobi — 
to rejoice or gladden. The last decoration 
is the fukutso tsumi ; a square of white 
paper, held in by a red and white string 
which marks a present. This is to be con- 
sidered a lucky bag, for its contents are 
suitable to the season. 



The Ship of Riches. 

These decorations are cut down in Tokio 
on January 7th, in some places on January 
3rd. There is another decoration sometimes 
used — a miniature ship of twisted straw, 
laden with representations of bales of grain, 
bits of green, aud little ornaments of every 
kind. The idea of the ship is an offering of 
first fruits. 

To bring the sleeper lucky dreams it is 
the custom, on the night of January 2nd, to 
cover the pillow with a rude picture of the 
takara bune, or ship of riches, having the 
seven gods of wealth seated in it. This 
representation of the ship of wealth is a 
very favorite subject in Japanese art. There 
is a splendid specimen in the museum of 
arms at Tokio. 

Now that I have given an idea of their 
composition and symbolism, I can go on to 
describe the New Year's decorations, and 
New Year's festivities, as we saw them with 
our own eyes. 

To start with the lobster group, to use 
Mrs. Ayrton's expression, we found that 
she had made a most important omission in 
describing the composition — the great tassel, 
or knot of grass, which is the most noticeable 



THE NEW-YEAR FESTIVAL IN JAPAN. 



189 



feature. This knot with tassel ends is a 
constantly recurring feature in Japanese 
ornamentation from the mortuary shrine of a 
Shogun downwards. 

Mrs. Ayrtou is careful to use the expres- 
sion, " more or less complete," of the decor- 
ations. She was wise. I had to walk a 
couple of miles along the Ginza, the main 
street of Tokio, to find a decent specimen 
of a lobster group to photograph. And 
when I found it, it needed no small general- 
ship to kodak it successfully. First of all 
I had to obtain the permission of its proud 
owner. I could not speak a word of Japa- 
nese, he could not speak a word of English. 
I went into his shop and bowed as if I were 
a nigger waiter expecting a handsome tip. 
He squatted down on his hams, and bowed 
until his forehead touched the beautiful white 
mats on which he knelt. 

Photographing the Lobsters. 

Then I entreated him, with a gesture, to 
rise, and led him to the front of his shop, 
pointing at his lobster group, and patting 
my faithful kodak. He didn't understand a 
bit till a jinrikisha boy (the sharpest- witted 
men in the coolie class) said hasheen (pro- 
nounced shasheen), which means photograph. 
The proprietor was forthwith wreathed in 
smiles at the honor about to be paid to his 
" honorable " lobster group. 

Then a new difficulty arose. Most Japa- 
nese shops are only five or six feet high ; 
this was ten or eleven, and I, who am only 
five feet and a half, had to get my camera 
on a level with the object, and within two or 
three feet of it, to make the photograph suf- 
ficiently large. An idea struck me. I threw 
down my note-book and stick regardless of 
the fact that the strangeness of my behavior 
— from the Japanese standpoint, of course — 
had already attracted a crowd of a few hun- 



dred people who wondered what fate was to 
befall the group of lobsters. 

I had seen a stool, intended not for a 
human being — the Japanese don't know 
how to sit — but for a red lacquer lantern 
with paper sides, or slides, which stood on 
it. I put down the lantern, carefully carried 
off my stool in triumph, mounted it just under 
the lobster group, lifted my kodak as high 
as I could over my head with both hands, 
and snapped a shot. 

Eager for Something New. 

"The crowd were breathless with excite- 
ment, and had to be dispersed by a policeman, 
four feet and a half high, before we could get 
away. So like the Athenian of Biblical 
report is the Japanese in his thirst for some 
new thing. 

Even the English residents in Japan sol- 
emnly hang the lobster group in the ever- 
green arch over their garden gate at this 
season of the year, partly perhaps to flatter 
Japanese sensibilities, a little perhaps for its 
supposed good luck, mainly as a kind of 
Christmas decoration. They put it up for 
Christmas Day, and not for New Year's 
Day, and so do some Japanese in Yoko- 
hama. In a few years' time they will proba- 
bly shift the whole festival to Christmas Day ; 
the Christmas-keeping people there, the Eng- 
lish and Germans, being paramount in the 
treaty ports. It is not very much to shift 
the festival from the Western New Year's 
Day to Christmas Day, when it has already 
been shifted from the Japanese New Year's 
Day to the Western. - 

"What shall I do ? " I asked of Abe San 5 
the accomplished Japanese who manages the 
Tokio Hotel, " to see as much as possible of 
the New Year's decorations, games and holi- 
day makers ? " " You had better drive to 
Asakusa. It is far. You will have to drive 



190 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



right across the city to get to it, and will see 
many people in their houses decorated, and 
in street playing. And at Asakusa very 
much people and wrestling at the temple — 
the temple of Kwannon." Jumping into 
rikshas, that is two-wheeled carriages, away 
to Asakusa we went. 

For a wonder it was not one of those ideal 
days in which Japanese winters deal. But 
in spite of the grey London weather, what a 
fairyland diorama we enjoyed as we dashed 
through the Titanic gateway, over the broad 
moat, into the maze of narrow streets of 
wooden and paper houses, hardly higher 
than a tall American. The grass rope, 
nawa, was carried from end to end of each 
block, to keep out the evil spirits ; and every 
doorway had its New Year decorations in 
honor of the gods or the national custom, 
and its crossed flags in honor of the Mikado, 
a homage that is paid on all public holidays. 

Evergreen Everywhere. 

Every doorway had at least a patch of 
evergreen and these crossed banners, the 
red sun on the white ground — silk crepe even 
for the poorest houses — mounted on lac- 
quered bamboo staves, with gilt balls to 
replace the spear head or the eagle of West- 
ern ensigns. 

Every now and then there would be a 
house which enjoyed the dignity of a second 
story, with the typical decorations. Most 
of the houses had nothing but the flags and 
a poor little lobster group. We only came 
across one showing the cut bamboo and red 
and black firs. It was a very typical little 
Japanese shop, with its shoji or inner shutters 
(as in many shops, made of glass, not paper), 
left up because it was a holiday. On busi- 
ness days, except in very bad weather, the 
shop is left open to the street. 

We were in imminent danger of commit- 



ting manslaughter the whole way, for the 
streets were simply packed with battledore 
players, mostly children, in the most brilliant 
costumes, who kept up the shuttlecock at 
distances and for periods that appear impos- 
sible to foreigners. 

Fortunately our rikshas were drawn by 
human horses, or there would inevitably. 
have been shying ; as one shuttlecock 
whizzed past one at a low trajectory, like 
a volley at lawn tennis, and another ended 
a slow and lofty parabola within an inch ot 
one's nose, where a bat would be ready to 
despatch it on its return flight. 

Soaring Paper Falcon. 

The children blocked the streets with 
their favorite pastime, while their parents 
perched on the roofs wherever they were 
high enough to woo the wind for kite flying ; 
a pastime of very uneven attractions. In 
the distance it is fascinating ; one sees the 
paper falcon at a dizzy height soaring 
amongst the eagles. Close to, whenever the 
kite is not winding its string round your 
neck, it will be found entangled in the legs 
of your riksha boy. 

Just as we passed the castle s ramparts 
we came to a yashiki, one cf the great black 
wooden kraals with its four sides formed by 
the strongly barricaded outer walls of the 
barracks of the clansmen, and an open 
space in the centre surrounding the town 
mansion of the Da'imio, or clan chief. 
Neither clan nor clan chief lives in them 
now; but the great Da'imio under the Toku- 
gawa dynasty spent half the year in Tokio, 
garrisoned by a whole army of feudal re- 
tainers. These yashikis have mostly fallen 
from their high estate, and become barracks 
for Imperial troops or tenement houses for 
the poor. 

When we were passing one of the latter, 



THE NEW-YEAR FESTIVAL IN JAPAN. 



191 



outside the great Tori-shaped gateway of 
massive black timber, two sweet little mites 
were playing another of the great New 
Year's games, which to the unallegorising 
Anglo-Saxon is simply bouncing ball ; but 
it means no end to the Japanese. These 
balls are made, not of India-rubber, but of 
paper and wadding symmetrically wound 
round about with thread or silk of various 
colors. The children sing all the time they 
keep up the bouncing. 

Kite Flying and Battledore. 

The boys seem to go in more for kite fly- 
ing, the girls for battledore or ball. The 
kites are made of Japanese paper, thin and 
strong, on very light bamboo frames. In 
this season of prevalent winds they fly very 
easily, and a light humming noise is pro- 
duced by a piece of whalebone attached to 
the kite, and set in rapid vibration by the 
wind. 

The girls introduce more of the solemn 
ceremony, which the Japanese delight to im- 
part into the "trivial round, the common 
task," in their games than the boys do. 

In the middle of all this kite flying and 
ball playing and battledoring, we would come 
across a couple of Japanese of the hum- 
blest stations, say two small shopkeepers, 
whose whole stock in trade did not amount 
to ten dollars apiece, friends meeting for the 
first time in the New Year. They would be 
repeating the orthodox New Year greeting, 
probably: "Shin nen nogo shiogo, wo 
moshi agamas," and bowing to each other 
for about five minutes, accurately observing 
the etiquette of bowing to an equal, a 
superior, or an inferior as the case may be. 

There are degrees even in penury, and I 
have seen a child of two years go through a 
lesson of the whole category of genuflexions 
in a humble curio shop where the profits 



could not have exceeded twenty-five cents a 
day. With each bob of the head of these 
ceremonious friends, there would be the cor- 
responding elevation of the Mother Gamp 
European umbrella, which every Japanese 
who has a dollar in the world hugs, 
"whene'er he takes his walks abroad." 

New Year's Day is the universal visiting 
day. The Mikado receives the great officers 
of state, and his subjects receive and call 
upon their whole acquaintance. How they 
manage it puzzled me, but I suppose that the 
Japs mark upon their name-paper (visiting 
cards are actually made of paper unless the 
owner affects Europeanism; and they are 
used as universally as the ginghams) the 
hour at which they will be at home on New 
Year's Day, as our hostesses mark their day 
at home, unless it happens to be Sunday. 

A Salmon for a Present. 

With the visit they generally combine the 
presentation of the seibo, which ought to 
have been brought the day before, and was, 
until etiquette became trodden down at the 
heel by the imitation of European slipshod- 
diness. Among the poorer classes the usual 
seibo seems to be a Hakodate salmon, 
squashed flat in the process of salting and 
packing, or a blue cotton towel such as the 
riksha boys twist round their heads So 
prevalent are these particular forms of the 
seibo, that the stationers keep a line of gaily 
printed wrappers, something like our news- 
paper wrappers, for the specific purpose. 

The most fascinating part about the seibo 
to me was the red and white twine, stiffened 
with rice paste, and tied with marvellous 
neatness into the inevitable tassel knot, with 
its little kite of red, white, or gold paper. I 
was very much amused with one great offi- 
cial on his way to call on the Mikado. His 
horse was shying, and he was only accus- 



192 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



tomed to human horses who never show any 
unpleasant antics. 

As we drew nearer and nearer to Asakusa, 
the plot thickened, the streets becoming 



eigners). Sometimes the duet would be a 
respectable old Jap and his wife, more often 
a geisha (singing girl) with her chaperon or 
cavalier, the latter apt to be flushed with saki. 




JAPANESE BARBERS. 



crowded with Japanese riding in double riks- 
has (the more extravagant habit of having 
only one rider to each poor two-legged beast 
of burden being almost abandoned to for- 



The crowds of geishas made the street 

very picturesque with their delicate rainbow- 

hued silks ; elaborately dressed, flower 

, studded hair, whitened faces and vermilioned 



THE NEW-YEAR FESTIVAL IN JAPAN. 



193 



lips. And so did the Inns, with their fes- 
toons of crimson lanterns swinging in the 
breeze, and their piles of great saki kegs, 
each sewn up in matting garish with a scar- 
let or green fish or dragon. 

Anon there would be a mighty shouting, 
or a joyous singing, as, drawn by the patient 
ox, or a score or two of impatient coolies, 
rolled past the triumphal car taking home 
the rice — the Japanese harvest homing. 
There was a great variety in the processions. 
All had their array of coolies in brand new 
head kerchiefs and dresses of dark blue 
cotton, stamped mostly on the broad of their 
backs with their master's crest in red or 
white, or both. 

An Immense Car. 

When the services of an ox were required, 
the car was generally an elaborate affair, re- 
minding one of the allegorical displays of 
the German brewers at an American Cen- 
tennial. I took a picture of one that was 
higher than the highest houses it passed, 
culminating in a huge sun a dozen feet in 
diameter, made of crimson velvet, with a 
heavy gold fringe festooned across it, and 
gilt rays at least another dozen feet long 
springing from it. Round its base was a 
tangle of draperies and fans and foliage, 
blended with the unerring felicity of taste 
possessed by even the humblest Japanese ; 
and on a kind of balcony in front, and on 
the piled-up rice bales behind, were a swarm 
of masqueraders, a bevy of girls, and a kind 
of king, most of them with some musical 
instrument. 

More in the spirit of old Japan perhaps is 
the hand-car. I photographed a little one 
drawn by half a dozen coolies, and with no 
ornament on its rice bales but tall swaying 
bamboos, the tallest with a long white ban- 
ner streaming in the wind and a crimson 
Ja.— 13 



lantern firmly fixed on its head, the others 
with lanterns gracefully suspended, nodding 
like bluebells, and a plentiful supply of 
colored cloths, saki jars and bamboo 
branches. There was much music and 
much saki at work in all of them. 

Haunts of Pleasure. 

By this time we had crossed the fine iron 
bridge built by the Japanese themselves 
across the Sumida Gawa, the broad river- 
parent of innumerable canals and moats, 
which make Tokio, the Venice of the East, 
and were in the suburb of Asakusa ; more 
abandoned to the haunts of pleasure than 
any spot in the city. 

Soon we crossed a broad street and found 
ourselves among thousands of rikshas at the 
end of a lane, densely packed with the fun- 
niest little Japanese women in their most 
brilliant dresses, and bordered on each side 
by rows of white wooden booths, and a per- 
fect avenue of gigantic cut bamboos with 
the foliage left on them. These were inter- 
spersed with endless banners, crossed over 
the gateways and drooped from the house 
fronts like pennons. At the entrance of the 
fair we were obliged to leave our rikshas. 

We followed three sweet little girls, perfect 
pictures, with their soft grey kimonos and 
bare flower-brightened heads, up the narrow 
lane between the booths, which were filled 
with the ordinary gimcracks of a Japanese 
fair — toys, such as kites, battledores, shuttle- 
cocks, dragon heads for the kagura dance, 
firemen's hooks and standards, flags, and 
dolls ; female fripperies, such as lacquer 
combs, gay hair pins, ladies' satchels and 
pipe cases, mirrors, trumpery lacquer articles, 
cakes, and candies. The wares exposed 
were awful rubbish ; and we were glad to 
elbow our way through to the great temple, 
which is the heart of all this holiday making, 



194 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



casting a glimpse to our right at the five- 
story scarlet pagoda. 

The open space outside was full of the 
Japanese Christmas trees, or perhaps I ought 
to say New Year's trees — a handful of long 
tapering branches fastened together at their 
bottoms, and so tapering that the paper toys 
and sweetmeats hung on them made them 
bend and quiver like a fishing rod with 
a black bass attached. 

A Showy Temple. 

Space forbids my describing here in detail 
the vast scarlet temple and gateway. The 
latter was as high as the temple itself, with 
lanterns hanging in its arch as large as the 
ordinary Japanese house, and the inevitable 
"Two Kings" (Ni-O) in their wire rabbit 
boxes, stuck all over with pellets of chewed 
paper. As we passed from the great sam- 
mon to the temple, we noticed an elaborate 
washing-place, and a huge hoarding, with 
the little white wood notice boards, to remind 
the gods of the prayers or benefactions of 
the faithful. 

On entering the temple it was not long 
before we recognized the fact that there were 
sacred chickens. There were also images in 
profusion, and not a few stalls where priests 
sold cheap prints and pictures of the special 
incarnation of Buddha worshipped here 
(Kwannon Sama, the Goddess of Mercy, is 
tutelary of the temple). 

I contributed to the support of the institu- 
tion by spending two sen and a half — about 
two cents — and then turned my attention to 
the faithful, who were endeavoring to insure 
attention from a different quarter by clapping 
their hands to show that they were going to 
begin to pray ; and, as a preliminary, throw- 
ing a few rin (decimal fractions of a cent) 
into the huge grated bath which is there to 
swallow offerings. We were not the only 



mere sight-seers, there were plenty of Japan- 
ese to keep us company ; for the country 
has a duality of religions, and a plurality of 
inhabitants who don't " take any stock " in 
either. 

Taro, my riksha-boy, who could speak 
quite a good deal of English, and was pretty 
well posted in the legends and superstitions, 
as well as the sights of Tokio, had left his 
riksha and his hat (a solar topee, though the 
thermometer was well down in the " forties"), 
and the Red Indian's blanket which every 
riksha-boy carries to cover the knees of his 
patrons, with his mates, and skipped in after 
us to play his favorite role of interpreter, 
and enjoy the holiday himself at the same 
time. On the strength of his erudition he 
always treats himself better than his mates. 
The explanations he made to us were so ab- 
surd that he evidently knew nothing about 
it. This is a Buddhist temple : he must be a 
Shintoist. He is not high enough class to 
be a skeptic. 

The Corean Tiger. 

From the temple he led the way to the 
Zoological Gardens mixed up with it, in the 
centre of which stands the famous cock- 
tower. But the main feature is a Corean 
tiger. The Zoological Gardens consist to a 
great extent of tortured fir trees in porcelain 
pots. Zoological is not a wide enough 
scientific term to describe this precious col- 
lection. There are, however, two bears from 
the big northern island of the Japanese group, 
Yesso, and a number of the storks (alive) 
which play such an important part in the 
decoration of the trash exported from Japan, 
but which, so far, we had never seen in 
Japan. 

I could not help thinking what a pretty 
ornament they would make to the botanical 
gardens at Melbourne, where they are very 



THE NEW-YEAR FESTIVAL IN JAPAN. 



195 



fond of acclimatizing water fowl, and where 
these birds would thrive. 'Possums might 
be sent in return. Their fur would be valu- 
able here, and the Japanese" would eat them 
— sharks and swordfish are quite a staple 
article of diet. 

Would we go up to the cock-tower? Taro 
asks. " Must we take our shoes off? " Then 
we wouldn't, though the view is fine. We 
preferred to keep on our boots, and hastened 
past an artist, emulating in the dust of Tokio 
the men who pastel the pavements in 
London, to the montebank dentist. 

■Wonderful Pictures in Chalk. 

Talking of the men who make those fear- 
ful and wonderful pictures with a few bold 
strokes of a stumpy chalk, and a few 
seconds' rubbing with the fingers, one recalls 
inevitably that one who used to take up his 
position outside Sir John Millais's huge 
house in South Kensington, and underneath 
his pictures write : " My rich brother lives 
in there, while I have not enough to eat." 
He referred, I believe, to brotherhood in art. 

Here in Asakusa there was also a woman 
who dashed off her pastels with equal skill 
on paper, choosing her subjects principally 
from the mythological characters connected 
with this temple. She retailed her works at 
rather less than three cents each. I bought 
five of them — a couple of disreputable look- 
ing demi-gods, and. three landscapes. These 
last included a Japanese eagle sitting on a 
snowy tree, another flying round a snowy 
mountain peak, and a picture of a gigantic 
red peony in a little straw case buried in the 
snow. The lady artist's genius had evidently 
had a wintry experience, not to say reception 

" But are there not any jugglers ? " I asked 
disappointedly of Taro. "Jogler? Oh yes," 
he replied ; and led the way to a row of booths, 
surrounded by open-mouthed Japanese. 



The first had five rin — a depreciated far- 
thing — printed outside in large figures. But 
when I came to pay I was told that the 
board only referred to children, which was a 
lie, and I knew it ; but I paid three-farthings 
all the same for myself and my wife and the 
riksha man, who followed in uninvited and 
then said I must pay because he had no 
money. The juggling consisted only of a 
small electric machine ; and the simple 
switching of the current on and off elicited 
continuous applause. 

However, we moved on past some wax 
works exhibiting Daimio (feudal barons) in 
their pre-revolution costumes, and Aino 
(aborigines of the northern islands) in their 
native dress, to a booth which had on its 
signboard a tremendous fire-breathing sea- 
serpent, usurping a whole gulf, while a 
crowd of terrified Japanese stood on a cliff 
firing engines of war at it. This wormed 
another three-farthings apiece out of me, 
and we went in to see only a cub seal about 
a foot long, which went through a lot of 
tame-monkey tricks. This kind of thing, 
varied with an occasional theatre, went on 
to the end of the chapter. 

Mimic Mountains. 

At the .end of the chapter came the pride 
of Asakusa, the miniature Fujiyama, 1 10 
feet high, constructed of lath and pasteboard 
and plaster — a tower in the shape of the 
conventionalized mountains of Japanese pic- 
tures, commanding a view of the whole fair, 
and much of the great city behind. We 
walked up its shaky planks, and didn't find 
it very much fun, though on a normal winter 
day we should have seen the real Fuji, the 
Parthenon of mountains, soaring fifty miles 
away. All we did see from the top was the 
queerest conglomeration of grown-up chil- 
dren, who sent up the tinkle and tum-tum of 



196 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



Oriental music, and the shuffle of myriad 
clogs. 

We were very much more amused by the 
fate of the man who attempted to pick my 
pocket, and was detected (wonderful to re- 
late) by a detective. He was a very ingeni- 
ously got-up crook, in the costume of a 
Japanese student — native breeches, a sad 




THE PATRON OF HORSEMANSHIP. 

colored kimono, octogenarian European 
shoes, and a gray " boxer " hat. He also 
wore spectacles. 

The first intimation I had of his designs 
was to see what looked like an elderly arti- 
san, out for a holiday, rush at him, and begin 
boxing his ears so violently that his spec- 
tacles were knocked off, and his face was 



whipped scarlet. Then he dragged him up 
to me and put his own hand half into my 
pocket to intimate what had happened. I 
made signs, after feeling my pocket, that I 
had lost nothing. But that did not seem to 
signify ; all the way to the police station he 
was shaking the poor thief by the collar, and 
boxing his ears. The Japanese are a nation 
of children, and their own authorities treat 
them like naughty children. 

I lost sight of him as I turned round to 
listen to a Japanese street band ; one of the 
little groups who go round soliciting contri- 
butions for a great temple at Kioto — a man 
with a drum, a woman with a gong and a 
boy with a sort of flute. I brought my 
kodak to bear upon them, but quick as 
lightning the old man, who was terrified at 
the evil eye of the lens, covered his face 
with his drum sticks. So I photographed 
him with his eyes darkened by suspicion. 

Dealers in Curios. 

And then we passed from a whole street 
of performances to a whole street of shops 
and stalls. Tea-houses and saki shops were 
in abundance. They invade even the sacred 
precincts of the Zoological Gardens, which 
are as jealously guarded as any thief in 
Tokio. The cheap curio stalls principally 
devoted to pipe-cases, predominated ; sur- 
rounded by worsted dealers, sellers of 
" serop," cotton-wool tortoises, Japanese 
Christmas trees, and a conjurer, from whose 
tent was interpreted by Japanese musical in- 
struments an ancient melody. This brought 
us to the famous rope bridge over the lotus 
pond, quite a long bridge, constructed of 
planks and rope, like the swinging bridges 
of the Incas, made immortal in the pages of 
Prescott. 

We made a poor start for our return 
journey. Directly we were ^outside the 



THE NEW-YEAR FESTIVAL IN JAPAN. 



197 



gates we found our riksha boy, the historical 
Taro, wringing his hands and yelling. His 
mate, his riksha, his blanket, and his hat had 
all disappeared. But at length the missing 
properties were found at a neighboring tea 
house, and the sun shone through the clouds 
again. 

It was slow travelling, going as fast as we 
could, through the streets packed with sol- 
diers, wearing " holiday " on their counten- 
ances, children one mass of sores, the queer 
little Jap omnibuses, looking like miniature 
police vans, or the carts in which butchers 
take meat from the shambles, and rikshas 
carrying Japanese dudes in marvellously 
swell clothes, and silk hats, very seedy. 

A Mountebank. 

At one point in the road we were blocked 
by a crowd which had collected round a 
mountebank whose whole stock in trade was 
a battered silk hat. This and his gestures 
seemed to cause uncontrollable amusement 
to the Japs. He certainly was a merry- 
looking Andrew. 

We drove home along the Thames Em- 
bankment of Tokio, that city of muddy 
creeks and canals. It was almost deserted, 
though we did meet an old man, that rara 
avis in Japan, where the old are quiet and 
stay at home. They seem to dread an 
exposure of their feebleness. On we dashed, 
past high stockades and gabled white houses, 
with the black monograms standing out on 
their gables even in this dusky light, and 
past a little street temple into leagues of 
streets which were a forest of bamboo leaves 
and flags ; looking, oh ! so picturesque in 
the gloaming. 

Our noses were taken up with the disgust- 
ing smell of the sesame oil with which the 
evening meals were being cooked, and our 
eyes with the lantern lighting. One old 



Japanese was climbing up a ladder to light a 
lamp which could not have been more than 
six feet from the ground, while a more intel- 
lectual neighbor was lighting his, twenty feet 
from the ground, with the aid of an ingenious 
pulley arrangement. 

What glimpses of fairyland we had that 
evening ! First there came the newly lighted 
streets, with their rush candles glimmering 
through paper shoji (shutters) and fantastic 
swinging lanterns ; the queer, heavily gabled 
go-downs and yashiki looming through the 
deepening dusk. Then came the grim 
castle, with its Titanic walls and broad 
moats thrown into relief by the rising moon. 
How quaint the gnarled fir trees that grew 
on the top of the walls looked ! We had 
paused a minute just outside, to meet our 
host, at a house with an evergreen arch of 
the European pattern picked out with camel- 
lia blossoms, and festooned with mandarin 



Houses in Decay. 

And now we wheeled suddenly across one 
of these moats, and found ourselves once 
more among the long low yashiki, like so 
many huge kraals built in mediaeval wood 
and plaster, enterable only by the heavy 
timber gates, shaped like the tori of the 
Shinto temples. Now, alas! they are stripped 
of their glory. The king-making Daimio of 
the Warwick pattern, with his army of feudal 
retainers, is a thing of the past, converted 
into a noble with an English or French title, 
or a nobody stripped of everything, accord- 
ing to the side he took in the Revolution. 
Some of the yashiki have sunk so low as to 
be turned into tenement houses for the poor. 

By this time the dusk had deepened into 
dark, and the riksha boys had lighted the 
little paper lanterns they grip against one of 
the shafts. The whole broad drill ground 



in 8 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



was a kaleidoscope of dancing lights, thrown 
on little wheels that looked like spiders' 
webs as they spun round in the glare. And 
as we neared Shiba, the rikshas made a regu- 
lar procession of fairy lights, winding through 
the avenues of tall cryptomerias that stood 
out like needles in the crisp winter moon- 
light. 

At last we drew up at the Ko-yo-kwan, 
and disbooted before walking up the glossy 
maple stairs on to the spotless white mats of 
the banqueting floor. Here we had a Maple 



| decoration ; while beautiful women played 
the biwa, and koto, and samisen, and sang 
the story the others were setting forth in 
dumb show. At last the banquet, with its 
endless dishes and endless relays of tea and 
saki, came to an end ; and then the games 
with which the Japanese beguile an evening 
at the club were played for our benefit, that 
we might miss nothing. 

For bad weather, or for people too old for 
active sport, there are games such as the jiu 
roku musashi — a board divided into squares 




BRIDGE MAKING EXTRAORDINARY IN JAPAN. 



Club banquet, with its endless unheard-of 
dishes, from live fish downwards — offered to 
us, sitting like Turks on piles of cushions, by 
the sweetest little musumes, or waitresses, 
squatting on their hams, to the light of sorry 
candles on tall candlesticks, set, like our- 
selves, on the floor. So I must not more 
than mention the music and dancing which 
our host had ordered to enliven the banquet. 
The finest female dancers in Japan danced 
before us in exquisitely rich and beautiful 
robes, with the maple for the theme of their 



and diagonals, on which move sixteen pieces 
for one player, and one large piece for the 
other. The point of the game is for the six- 
teen pieces to hedge in the large piece so 
that it cannot move, or for the large to take 
all the sixteen. A capture can only be made 
when the large piece finds a piece immedi- 
ately on each side of it and a blank point 
beyond. 

Sugo roku is entirely a game of chance, a 
sheet of pictures. Educational pictures are 
the present fashion, but the oldest form is the 



THE NEW-YEAR FESTIVAL IN JAPAN. 



199 



journey between Kioto and Tokio. Players 
write names on slips of paper or some other 
suitable substance, throw a die in turn, and 
place on the pictures the number correspond- 
ing to the throw. In the next round, if the 
number you throw is written on the picture, 
you find directions as to which picture you 
should move forward or back to. But you 
may throw a blank and have to stay in your 
place. Winning consists in reaching a cer- 
tain picture. Other games are : — Making 
/erses (something like our own paper 
games) ; simple lotteries for various ob- 
jects ; card playing, etc. 

Illustrated Books. 

We had an equivalent for these games by 
being presented, each of us, with one of the 
choice books published by Hakubunsha (of 
which our host was the President) for the 
European market. All were exquisitely 
bound in delicate sandal-wood-colored silk. 
One had a book of flowers, another of birds, 
drawn and colored with the fidelity which 
only fails the Japanese when they depict 
beasts and foreigners, and I myself received 
a charming book, similarly illustrated, on 
children's sports. 

And then we booted, and were bowed out 
by our pretty waitresses, who, as on the 
previous occasion, handed each of us as we 
stepped into our rikshas a little pile of 
wooden boxes in which every scrap we had 
left of the dishes placed before us was 
scrupulously packed. When the Japanese 
orders a banquet, he carries away all he can- 
not eat on the spot to gormandize at his 
leisure. 

Our host insisted on seeing us safe home 
to the hotel. The hour was late, but the 
procession of fairy lights passing us was not 
perceptibly smaller, and from eveiy tea 
house came the tinkling twang of the toki- 



wona, the strolling female samisen player 
who was plying her trade. 

The motchi are a little New Year pile of 
two or more, usually three, round rice flour 
cakes, piled one on the top of the other and 
placed in a most conspicuous position on a 
lacquer stand. It is partly for ornament, in 




ANCIENT JAPANESE ARCHER. 

which capacity it serves till January I ith, 
when it is eaten. 

At the close of the old year there are 
plenty in the shops. It is also made by 
little parties of three men who go about 
the streets for hire, carrying a bottomless 
tub, with matting to replace the bottom, 
slung on a pole between two of the men. 



200 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



The third has the heavy wallet for the pro- 
longed striking of the paste with heavy 
thuds. To prevent rebound, the sticky 
mass is placed on the soft matting in the 
bottom of the tub. This man also carries 
the board used as the pastry board for mak- 
ing up the well-beaten cake. 

Climbing a Ladder. 

We called upon our late host in the 
morning, and had to clamber up the usual 
companion ladder without a hand rail, which 
takes the place of a staircase in the native 
houses. It was quite a large house, and we 
were shown into a delightfully sunny room 
without anything in it but the snowy mats 
on the floor; a few vases of flowers in the re- 
cesses of the guest chamber ; a very plain 
screen, some floor cushions and a charcoal 
stove to each. But near the window, in the 
sunniest spot, were three stately snow white 
motchi on a scarlet lacquer stand, with a vase 
of flowers in front of them, as if they were part 
of the ancestor worship which, combined with 
loyalty to the Mikado, forms the Shinto 
creed. These cakes do, I believe, have a 
solemn family significance. 

We were offered pipes, such as our host 
kept filling and puffing through in two or 
three whiffs, and refilling, the pipless Japan- 
ese mandarin oranges, confectionery, candies, 
and the inevitable tea, which was handed in 
steaming relays about every five minutes. 
A very brief inspection of the motchi sufficed. 
But Japanese ceremoniousness did not allow 
our leaving the house till we were afraid we 
should miss either the fire parade or lunch. 
We had no difficulty in finding our firemen, 
the Ginza being their favorite rendezvous, 
and the great mattoi or paper standard con- 
spicuous a mile off. 



The men rally at an appointed place to 
carry off their new standard, ladders, lan- 
terns, etc. This procession pauses at inter- 
vals, when the men steady the ladder (in a 
perpendicular position) with their long fire 
hooks, while an agile member of the band 
mounts it and performs gymnastics at the 
top. His performance concluded, he dis- 
mounts, and the march is continued, the men 
yelling at the highest pitch of their voices. 

Agile Firemen. 

As the said gymnastics consist mainly of 
standing on one's head at the top of the 
ladder, and stretching out stiff at right 
angles with it, we were forced, after seeing 
it, to the conclusion that either all Japanese 
firemen were Japanese acrobats such as we 
had seen performing at Barnum's, or that all 
the acrobats were firemen. It must be added 
that even when they go to a fire they take 
this black and white paper mattoi and their 
paper lanterns with them. But they gener- 
ally stand at a safe distance. 

As we were returning to our hotel, in one 
of the narrow streets between the Ginza and 
the moat, we came upon a little troupe per- 
forming the ancient kagura dance. They 
are often called in to amuse the spectators 
by the quaint animal-like movements of the 
draped figure, who wears a huge grotesque 
scarlet (or green — a sort of cross between a 
lion's head and a dragon's)mask on his head. 
At times he makes this monster appear to 
lengthen and retreat his neck, by an unseen 
change in the position of the mask from the 
head to the gradually extended and draped 
hand of the actor, the beat of a drum and 
the whistle of a bamboo flute forming the 
accompaniment to the dumb show acting 
and forming a part of the performance. 



CHAPTER XII. 
JAPANESE WOMEN. 



THE Japanese woman begins at about 
four years of age, when she assumes 
the maternal function of carrying 
the next baby but one, swaddled on 
her back. She does not, however, cease to 
be a child, for she plays at ball-bouncing, 
battledore, skipping rope, and other noisy, 
shaky games, with the baby sleeping peace- 
fully through it all, nodding its head like a 
pendulum. She begins dressing for society 
about the same time, in the most fantastic 
colors, and the richest fabrics that her parents 
can afford, with everything that a grown-up 
person would have, in miniature. 

I have seen a little girl, destined for the 
profession of geisha, or singing girl, who 
might have been anything from seven to ten, 
with quantities of hair worked up with poma- 
tum into an elaborate coiffure that looked 
like a great ebony butterfly, stuck with 
flowers, and coral and tortoise-shell hairpins, 
and high gilt combs . Her face was powdered, 
her lips carmined, her eyebrows shaved in the 
most approved mode. And she was dressed 
in flowered silk, with an obe of stiff and 
precious brocade. She was decked like this 
to be sold for a term of years. This dressing 
up was her mother's final attention. 

The lower-class Japanese women always in- 
terested me most. They wear more Oriental- 
looking clothes. The higher-class women, 
who adhere to the native custom, dress in 
neutral colors — usually parson's-wife grays, 
but sometimes in exquisite fawns and doves. 
But this rather heightens the effect of their 
delicate complexions, delicate figures, slender 



necks, and thin, refined-looking faces, lending 
to these an additional charm. 

The great ladies are generally foolish 
enough to dress like Europeans — Germans 
for preference. It is painful to think of the 
effect of an ill-made and totally unfitting 
gown, of a pattern obsolete in Dutchland, on 
a little pear-shaped Japanese. But the Em- 
press and one or two others look well in 
European dress. The Japanese have the 
charm of looking very young until they look 
very old. In connection with a woman's 
wearing of European dress, it must be re- 
membered that, if she does, she is accorded 
by her husband the respect paid to Western 
women ; whereas in native costume she is 
little better than a kindly-treated slave. 

A Singular Head-Dress. 

But the women of the people ! What jolly 
little things they are, whether in their work- 
ing dress of blue coolie cotton, with a pale 
blue towel folded round the head like a sun 
bonnet; or in holiday bravery, tripping 
through a fair Shiba ; or jogging compla- 
cently in a jinrikisha, with a male relative, 
to Asakusa. There the musumes (unmarried 
girls) are very resplendent in scarlet and fine 
hairpins. Japanese women never wear hats 
three sizes too large for them. 

The two prettiest little musumes I ever 
saw were at the Toshogu festival at Shiba, 
the June day on which the adherents of the 
fallen Shoguns and the disestablished Budd- 
hist creed meet at Shiba, Ueno, and Nikko, 
to celebrate the festival which no longer 

201 



■202 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



appears in the calendars. They were peep- 
ing out of the covered gallery between the 
temple and the monastery, where the faithful 
were throwing offerings of a tenth part of a 
cent, screwed up in curl papers, at the pict- 
ures of their favorite saint. I was with an 
artist friend. 

Our charmers were young — ten and four- 
teen ; but the Japanese grow up quickly as 
they grow old slowly, and in the presence of 
the white-robed young priest, who alleged 
that he was their uncle (though I could have 
sworn that the girls were no relation to each 
other), they were not more timid than fawns 
accustomed to eat bread out of their keeper's 
hands. We of course bought them tea and 
cakes and candies, and the little gewgaws 
they sell round a Japanese temple at fair 
time. 

Beautiful Olive Complexions. 

I never saw anything prettier than these 
little creatures, with their delicate beauty, and 
clear, damasked, olive complexions, in their 
fantastic, bright-colored, Oriental dresses, 
playing about with the lightness and grace 
of foxes, and munching candies and laugh- 
ing — a musical treble from a veritable rosebud 
of a mouth lined with pearly teeth. 

Add that it was a fine June day, at sunset, 
in a semi-tropical country, and that we were 
in the most beautiful spot in Tokio, sur- 
rounded by exquisite trees and temples, and 
you have the picture. 

The Japanese lower class abounds in 
women pleasing to the European eye. They 
are often no darker than Italians, and they 
have the coloring Giorgione loved — rich 
blood damasking a clear, sun-brown cheek. 
They have the true rosebud mouth, small 
and full, with beautifully white teeth, whose 
smallness is in keeping with the general 
petite effect. Sometimes, in married women. 



the teeth are barbarously blackened to please 
a jealous husband. Their eyes are not so 
slit and beady as those of the upper class, 
and their magnificent brown-black hair is 
conspicuous. 

The dressing of it is a work of art. They 
will sit the best part of a day in front of their 
fryingpan-shaped, quick-silvered bronze mir- 
rors, while the peripatetic hairdresser poma- 
tums their hair to the consistency of potters' 
clay, and then molds it into fearful and won- 
derful shapes — a sort of cross between a 
butterfly and a hearse plume. 

This, on gala days, is stuck all over with 
combs — gilt, scarlet, lacquer, ivory or pearl 
— and hairpins of flowers, tortoise-shell, 
coral, Venetian glass, ivory or mother-of- 
pearl. And then its fortunate possessor is 
set up for a week ; for a Japanese pillow is 
a little block, about the size of the blocks 
you put your feet on for the brigade boy 
to black your boots outside the railway 
stations, with a little hollow or cushion for 
the neck, and generally a drawer in the base 
for the hairpins. 

Clogs and Sandals of Straw. 

Even the lower classes have exquisite 
hands and feet. The Japanese do nothing 
roughly; they move as gingerly as a cat in 
a china shop. On their lean, glossy, well 
kept feet they wear, in dry weather, sandals 
of fine straw ; in wet weather, high kiri-wood 
clogs. These clogs, combined with the petti- 
coat that pinions their knees together, give 
the women a most ridiculous shuffling gait, 
something like a weak-minded girl's on roller 
skates for the first time. And this is never 
so conspicuous as in a railway station, for 
the Japanese always runs when entering or 
leaving a train. 

There is another variety: the mission- 
educated, and presumably Christian girl 




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203 



204 



Her badge is a pigtai 
Japs never do their hair in the national way. 
The Misses Asso, Sir Edwin Arnold's pupils, 
wore pigtails — pronounced specimens — and 
they added to this profanation the wearing 
of hideous pseudo-European boots, silk 
gloves and German sunshades. They were 
very ugly though they had fresh cheeks, 
and as they seldom spoke more than a 
couple of sentences an hour, they must 
have had almost enough English for their 
requirements before his tuition began. 

Nearly Always Charming. 

I saw Japanese women under many 
aspects — the women of the people, who 
interested me — and I must say that they 
were never without charm except when 
they were dirty. The Japanese woman 
is such an impersonation of cleanliness 
that she seems divorced from herself when 
you see her, all dust-begrimed, dragging a 
truck up the hill atKojimachi; or covered 
with liquid malarious-looking black slush 
as she transplants the young rice plants 
root by root; or smothered in coal smut, 
as, in company with hundreds of her fel- 
lows, she passes baskets of coal sufficient 
to coal a three-thousand ton steamer in a 
day at Nagasaki. Then she seems a mere 
beast. 

How different from the little, blue-filleted, 
scarlet-kirtled maids, carrying their provis- 
ions in the tasselled kyoto picnic baskets, 
and their wardrobes and worldly possessions 
in cardboard boxes about the size of a bis- 
cuit tin, tied up in oiled paper, going to pick 
the tea (it was May) in the famous gardens 
of Uji. Those chubby, stumpy, apple-cheeked 
little houris, would teach you Japanese or 
take you to your bath as glibly as they 
brought in the best country dinner you ever 
saw in Japan. 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE 
The Christianized 



But the Japanese grisctte never shows to 
such advantage as at a fair or a tea-house. 
She loves little merrymakings, and gets her- 
self up with such fascinating quaintness, in 
her very gayest kimono and obe and hairpins, 
under a circular parasol with all the colors 
of the rainbow and her favorite poem — 
Japanese poems have but thirty-one sylla- 
bles — upon it. She buys toys and candies 
with fractions of halfpence ; sips watery- 
looking tea from ridiculous little cups whose 
saucers never match them ; gives you a pretty 
little simper ; runs away as fast as her clogs 
will let her shuffle ; allows herself to be 
caught; promptly enters into conversation; 
will go with you to a tea-house, and acqui- 
esce in everything the foreigner proposes as 
a huge joke. 



Thinks it a Strange Custom. 

She thinks kissing the queerest custom 
ever invented, and learns to do it charm- 
ingly in a lesson or two — the Japanese them- 
selves never kiss. And she seems to have 
absolutely no dread of the apparition of a 
wrathful papa. But she loves best of all to 
be taken to a tea-house at night. Some of 
Pierre Loti's most inimitable passages tell us 
how Madame Chrysantheme loved it. 

And elsewhere he says: "After business 
the women dress themselves, ornament their 
hair with their most extravagant pins, and 
set out, holding at the end of flexible sticks 
great painted lanterns. The streets are filled 
to overflowing with their little persons, 
ladies or musumes, walking slowly in sandals 
and exchanging charming courtesies. 

"With an immense murmur of fluttering 
fans, of rustling silks, and of laughing chatter 
at dusk, by the light of the moon or beneath 
the starry night, they ascend to the pagoda, 
where gigantic gods with horrible masks 
await them, half hidden behind bars of gold 



JAPANESE WOMEN. 



205 



in the incredible magnificence of their sanct- 
uaries. They throw pieces of money to the 
priests, they pray prostrated, and clapping 
their hands with sharp blows, click clack as 
though their fingers were of wood. But most 
of the time they are chattering, thinking of 
something else, attempting to escape by 
laughter from the fear of the supernatural." 

Guitar Players. 

One naturally connects Japanese women 
with playing the samisen (guitar), an accom- 
plishment more common than piano playing 
with us. Any time after dark you hear the 
strolling eta (parish class) samisen player, 
tinkling as she goes along, on the chance of 
beine called into a tea-house to earn a few 
sen. The Japanese are very fond of their 
music, and those who can afford it go to a 
tea-house and hire the regular geisha girls, 
who sing to the accompaniment of the 
samisen, and are not famous for prudish 
behavior. Many of them are very pretty, 
and they may be readily detected in the 
street by their gaudy dresses, whitened faces, 
and elaborate coiffures. One generally sees 
them riding in double rikshas, two together, 
or one and a chaperon. 

The young European also thinks nothing 
so "chappie" as to take a friend to a famous 
tea-house, order some beautiful geishas, and 
stand them all a Japanese banquet, at which 
he smokes, and drinks foreign liquors. 

The women smoke too — the funny little 
kiseru, or Japanese pipe, made of brass and 
containing half a hickory nutshell of tobacco. 
The Japanese women smoke perpetually. 
The pretty little musume opposite you in the 
railway carriage will pull out of her long 
hanging sleeve, or from her sash, her pipe 
case and tobacco case, the moment she has 
kicked off her sandals and tucked her feet 
under her on the seat. 



The shopwoman while she is serving you 
will be tapping her pipe against the charcoal 
box to knock the ashes out. The coolie 
woman, when she rests for her tiffin from 
the hard labor which ought to be done by 
men, loads, whiffs through in a twinkling, 
and loads again the poor man's friend. 

The tap tap of the kiseru against the box 
and the shuffle of the clogs on the paving 
flags, are as omnipresent in Japan as the 
rattle of the 'bus in our city streets. 

The lower class women in the cities are apt 
to be worn out drudges or flighty little but- 
terflies. But even a short way out they gain 
in dignity of deportment, and labor without 
losing their attractions. I was having a long 
drive out of Yokohama one day, and about a 
couple of miles before we got home, Sada, my 
riksha boy — a very superior fellow, though, 
I suspect, long-winded as a socialist, and 
certainly a trifle short-winded as a runner — - 
stopped outside a Japanese farm house, with 
a neatly railed garden and a cornfield in 
front of it, from which the harvest was being 
"carried" on men's backs. 

A Model of Neatness. 

"That my father's house," he said; and 
pointing to a little cabin by the garden gate, 
"That my house." I dismounted, and, 
going up to it, flattered his vanity immensely 
by taking off my boots. The whole thing 
would have gone into a van, and the bulk 
of it was taken up with his riksha house. 
But it was as neat as a new pin, and in the 
midst of the one dwelling room sat his wife, 
with some dainty sewing on one side, and a 
large charcoal firebox on the other. 

She was squatting on her heels when I 
entered, cooking rice and tea over a handful 
of embers; but she rose to greet me — such 
an exquisite creature — erect, graceful, digni- 
fied, with a clear, sun-browned skin and 



206 

dazzling teeth, her pretty hands and feet 
only browned, not spoiled by labor. 

She showed me, with the ease and chic of 
a grisctie, her simple cooking utensils, her 
household gods, her two Jappy little chests 
of drawers, and her sewing, and then she 
invited me into the garden, and picked me 
her best roses, and brought to me her beau- 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 

When I reached Yokohama I got the 
ladies of our party to put up a great bundle 
of European garments for her, which, with 
her beautiful sewing, I have no doubt she 
transformed into marvels that smote her 
rustic sisters' souls with awe. 

Many Europeans marry Japanese women 
for the time being, Japanese marriage laws 




A JAPANESE WEDDING. 



tiful children. Before I knew she was gone 
she was back with a little tray of tea, and, 
when I refused it, led me through the house 
of her father-in-law (an old Jap who looked 
as if he had been dug out, and a mummy of 
the first dynasty) to the well, with its mossy 
stone arch, its little red shrine, and its scar- 
let wild camellia tree. 



being somewhat elastic in the matters of 



divorce; but British subjects must remem- 
ber, if they do, that there is safety only in 
numbers. A Japanomaniac of my acquaint- 
ance, among his other tortuous ambitions, 
desired to marry a Japanese according to 
the Japanese rite, and to have his marriage 
recognized by English law. 



JAPANESE WOMEN. 



207 



After taking the case through all the 
courts up to the House of Lords, British 
Justice sardonically decided that if the mar- 
riage were duly celebrated according to 
Japanese custom, and the happy husband 
only indulged in one wife at a time, he was 
duly married. This probably carries with 
it a recognition of the divorce laws, in which 
Japan discounts Chicago ; for not so long 
ago a filial Japanese divorced a wife he 
fondly loved because she didn't get on well 
with his parents. 

A Valuable Book. 

The best book ever published in Japan is 
Chamberlain's " Things Japanese." It would 
be worth buying if it contained nothing but 
The Daigaku Onna {Greater Learning for 
Women). Every day I am more and more 
struck with the fact that Americans do not 
take the same view of Things Japanese as 
Mr. Chamberlain. 

Mr. Chamberlain, an American, whose 
acquaintance with things Japanese is so 
marvellous that he is Professor of Japanese 
Literature in their own University of Tokio, 
says that "the treatment of their women 
might cause a pang to any generous Euro- 
pean heart." American men are said to be 
the best husbands in the world, and the least 
appreciated ; and yet in the face of this, one 
hears every now and then of an American 
lady marrying a Japanese. One may safely 
say that the Japanese view of the wife's 
function differs from the American. 

"A woman's lot is summed up in what are 
called ' the three obediences ' — obedience, 
while yet unmarried, to a father ; obedience, 
when married, to a husband and that hus- 
band's parents; obedience, when widowed, 
to a son. At present the greatest duchess 
or marchioness in the land is her husband's 
drudge. She fetches and carries for him, 



bows down humbly in the hall when my lord 
sallies forth on his walks abroad, waits upon 
him at meals, may be divorced at his good 
pleasure. Two grotesquely different influ- 
ences are now at work to undermine this 
state of slavery — one, European theories 
concerning the' relation of the sexes; the 
other, European clothes. 

The same fellow who struts into a room 
before his wife when she is dressed in Japan- 
ese fashion, lets her go in first when she is 
dressed like Europeans. Probably such 
acts of courtesy do not extend to the home, 
where there is no one by to see, for most 
Japanese men make no secret of their disdain 
for the female sex. Still it is a first step 
that even on some occasions consideration 
for women should at least be simulated." 

Whole Duty of Woman. 

Such is the opinion deliberately expressed 
in his "Things Japanese," published in Japan 
by one who has lived among the Japanese 
for many years, and knows more of their 
language and literature than any foreigner 
living. 

And it must be owned that what he says 
finds authority, or illustration, in The Greater 
Learning for Women, by the celebrated 
Japanese moralist, Kaibara, of which he gives 
a translation, and which he suggests might 
more appropriately be called "The Whole 
Duty of Woman." 

This remarkable document has a preamble 
that might justly fill the American woman 
and girl child with horror. 

"Seeing that it is a girl's destiny, on 
reaching womanhood, to go to a new home 
and live in submission to her father-in-law 
and mother-in-law (the American girl would 
rather board in one room with a bed that 
folded up into an out of date piano), it is 
even more incumbent on her than it is on a 



208 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



boy to receive with all reverence her parents' 
instructions. 

"Should her parents, through excess of 
tenderness, allow her to grow up self-willed, 
she will infallibly show herself capricious in 
her husband's house, and thus alienate his 
affections ; while if her father-in-law be a man 
of correct principles, the girl will find the 
yoke of these principles intolerable. She 
will hate and decry her father-in-law, and 
the end of these domestic dissensions will be 
her dismissal from her husband's house, and 
the covering of herself with ignominy. 

Virtue a Jewel. 

" More precious in woman is a virtuous 
heart than a face of beauty. The vicious 
woman's heart is ever excited. She glares 
wildly around her, she vents her anger on 
others, her words are harsh and her accents 
vulgar, when she speaks it is to set herself 
above others, to upbraid others, to envy 
others, to be puffed up with individual pride, 
to jeer at others, to outdo others — all things 
at variance with the ' way ' in which a woman 
should walk. 

"The only qualities that befit a woman 
are gentle obedience, chastity, mercy and 
quietness." 

The man who wrote this last paragraph 
was a Japanese Solomon. It reads like a 
lost chapter in the Book of Proverbs. In 
what follows, the foreigner from his own 
experience would imagine that some change 
must have taken place in Japanese notions 
of morality since The Greater Learning for 
Women was written. 

"From her earliest youth a girl should 
observe the line of demarcation separating 
women from men, and never even for an 
instant should she be allowed to see or hear 
the least impropriety." The last might be 
pretty easy. The Japanese, to give them 



credit, have no oaths or coarse words in 
their language. They have to fall back on 
Anglo-Saxon. 

"The customs of antiquity did not allow 
men and women to sit in the same apart- 
ment, to keep their wearing apparel in the 
same place, to bathe in the same place, or 
to transmit to each other anything directly 
from hand to hand. 

"A woman going abroad at night must 
in all cases carry a lighted lamp, and (not 
to speak of strangers) she must observe a 
certain distance in her relations with her 
husband and with her brethren. In our 
days the women of the lower classes, ignor- 
ing all rules of this nature, behave them- 
selves disorderly, they contaminate their 
reputation, bring reproach upon the heads 
of their parents and brethren, and spend 
their whole lives in an unprofitable manner." 
What a low lot foreigners must meet! 

A Risky Lottery. 

Marriage must seem a hazardous experi- 
ment to the Japanese lady. If her husband 
turns out to be an adventurer she mustn't 
utter a word of complaint, but put it down 
to the credit of Heaven ; and if she is 
divorced " shame shall cover her till her 
latest hour" — a little hard considering the 
very elastic character of the Seven Reasons 
for Divorce, which include such natural little 
outbreaks on the female part as (i) disobedi 
ence to her father-in-law and mother-in-law, 
(2) jealousy, and (3) disturbing the harmony 
of kinsmen, and bringing trouble on her 
household by talking over much and prat- 
tling disrespectfully, and so on. 

One would fancy that marriage must be 
rather a frightening prospect for a woman in 
Japan. She has to nurse every child till it 
is about three years old, and after marriage 
" her chief duty is to honor her father-in-law 



JAPANESE WOMEN. 



209 



and mother-in-law — to honor them beyond 
her own father and mother." 

The Greater Learning for Women observes, 
sententiously : "While thou honorest thine 
own parents think not lightly of thy father- 
in-law! Never should a woman fail night 
and morning to pay her respects to her 
father-in-law and mother-in-law. Never 
should she be remiss in performing any tasks 
they may require of her. With all rever- 
ence must she carry out, and never rebel 
against, her father-in-law's commands. On 
every point must she inquire of her father- 
in-law and mother-in-law, and abandon her- 
self to their direction. Even if thy father- 
in-law and mother-in-law be pleased to hate 
and vilify thee, be not angry with them, and 
murmur not; If thou carry piety towards 
them to its utmost limits, and minister to 
them in all sincerity, it cannot be but that 
they will end by becoming friendly to thee. 

Supreme Duty of Obedience. 

"The great, lifelong duty of a Avoman is 
obedience. In her dealings with her hus- 
band, both the expression of her counte- 
nance and the style of her address should 
be courteous, humble and conciliatory, never 
peevish and intractable, never rude and arro- 
gant — that should be a woman's first and 
chiefest care. 

"When the husband issues his instruc- 
tions the wife must never disobey them. In 
doubtful cases she should inquire of her hus- 
band and obediently follow his commands. 
If ever her husband should inquire of her 
she should answer to the point — to answer 
in a careless fashion would be a mark of 
rudeness. Should her husband at any time 
be roused to anger she must obey him with 
fear and trembling, and not set herself up 
against him in anger and disputatiousness. 
A woman should look upon her husband 
Jx— 14 



as if he were Heaven itself, and never weary 
of thinking how she may yield to her hus- 
band and thus escape celestial castigation. 

"As brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law are 
the brothers and sisters of a woman's hus- 
band, they deserve all her reverence. Again, 
she should cherish and be intimate with the 
wife of her husband's elder brother, Yea, 
with special warmth should she reverence 
her husband's elder brother." 




JAPANESE VASES. 

This is the law of primogeniture with a 
vengeance, and what follows leaves the 
Divine right in the distance. Lay it to 
heart, daughters of the Mayflower, how 
Priscilla should comport herself when she 
become Mrs. John Alden : 

" Let her never even dream of jealousy. 
If her husband be dissolute, she must ex- 
postulate with him, but neither nurse or vent 
her anger. If her jealousy be extreme it 
will render her countenance frightful and her 



210 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



accents repulsive, and can only result in 
completely alienating her husband from her, 
and making her intolerable in his eyes. 

"Should her husband act ill and unrea- 
sonably, she must compose her countenance 
and soften her voice to remonstrate with 
him ; and if he be angry, and listen not to the 
remonstrance, she must wait over a season, 
and then expostulate with him again when 
his heart is softened. Never set thyself up 
against thy husband with harsh features and 
a boisterous voice. 

Slander and Lying Condemned. 

"A woman should be circumspect and 
sparing in her use of words, and never, even 
for a passing moment, should she slander 
others or be guilty of untruthfulness. Should 
she ever hear calumny, she should keep it to 
herself and repeat it to none ; for it is the 
retailing of calumny that disturbs the har- 
mony of kinsmen and ruins the peace of 
families. 

"A woman must ever be on the alert, and 
keep a strict watch over her own conduct. 
In the morning she must rise early, and at 
night go late to rest. Instead of sleeping in 
the middle of the day, she must be intent on 
the duties of her household, and must not 
weary of weaving, sewing, and spinning. 

" Of tea and wine she must not drink over 
much, nor must she feed her eyes and ears 
with theatrical performances, ditties, and 
ballads. To temples (whether Shinto or 
Buddhist) and other like places, where there 
is a great concourse of people, she should go 
but sparingly till she has reached the age of 
forty. She must not let herself be led astray 
by mediums and divineresses, and enter into 
an irreverent familiarity with the gods, neither 
should she be constantly occupied in praying. 
If only she satisfactorily perform her duties 
as a human being, she may let prayer alone 



without ceasing to enjoy the divine protec- 
tion. 

" In her capacity of wife she must keep 
her husband's household in proper order. 
If the wife be evil and profligate the house is 
ruined. In everything she must avoid ex- 
travagance, and both with regard to food and 
raiment must act according to her station in 
life, and never give way to luxury and pride. 

"While young she must avoid the inti- 
macy and familiarity of her husband's kins- 
men, comrades and retainers, ever strictly 
adhering to the rule of separation between 
the sexes, and on no account whatever 
should she enter into a correspondence with 
a young man. Her personal adornments 
and the color and pattern of her garments 
should be unobtrusive. It suffices for her to 
be neat and cleanly in her person and in her 
wearing apparel. It is wrong in her by an 
excess of care to obtrude herself on other 
people's notice. Only that which is suitable 
should be practiced." 

Must Venerate Her Mother-in-Law. 

The Japanese wife "must not selfishly 
think first of her own parents, and only 
secondly of her husband's relations. 

"As a woman rears up posterity, not to 
her own parents, but to her father-in-law 
and mother-in-law, she must value the latter 
more than the former, and tend them with 
filial piety. Her visits also to the paternal 
house should be rare after marriage. Again, 
she must not be filled with pride at the 
recollection of the splendor of the paternal 
house, and must not make it the subject of 
her conversations." 

The Greater Learning for Women is as full 
of wisdom as an egg is full of meat. The 
rules and regulations for her relations given 
above are not a whit more pithy than what 
a Westerner would call "the sizing up of the 



JAPANESE WOMEN. 



211 



servant question,'' which may be very beau- 
tiful in theory, yet difficult in practice. 

" However many servants she may have 
in her employ it is a woman's duty not to 
shirk the trouble of attending everything 
herself. She must sew her father-in-law's 
and mother-in-law's garments, and make 
ready their food. Ever attentive to the 
wants of her husband, she must fold his 
clothes and dust his rug, rear his children, 
wash what is dirty, be constantly in the 
midst of her household, and never go abroad 
but of necessity. 

"Her treatment of her handmaidens will 
require circumspection. These low and ag- 
gravating girls have had no proper education ; 
they are stupid, obstinate, and vulgar in their 
speech. When anything in the conduct of 
their mistress' husband or parents-in-law 
crosses their wishes, they fill her ears with 
their invectives, thinking thereby to do her 
service. 

Beware of Gossip. 

" But any woman who should listen to this 
gossip must beware of the heartburnings it 
is sure to breed. Easy it is by reproaches 
and disobedience to lose the love of those 
who, like a woman's marriage connections, 
were all originally strangers ; and it were 
surely folly, by believing the prattle of a 
servant girl, to diminish the affection of a 
precious father-in-law and mother-in-law. 

"If a servant girl be altogether too loqua- 
cious and bad she should be speedily dis- 
missed, for it is by the gossip of such persons 
that occasion is given for troubling the har- 
mony of kinsmen and the disordering of a 
household. 

"Again, in her dealings with these low 
people, a woman will find many things to 
disapprove of. But if she be forever reprov- 
ing and scolding, and spend her time in 



bustle and anger, her household will be in a 
continual state of disturbance. When there 
is a real wrongdoing, she should occasionally 
notice it and point out the path of amend- 
ment, while lesser faults should be quietly 
endured without anger. While in her heart 
she compassionates her subordinate's weak- 
nesses, she must outwardly admonish them 
with all strictness to walk in the paths of 
propriety, and never allow them to fall into 
idleness. 

" If any is to be succored, let her not be 
grudging of her money; but she must not 
foolishly shower down her gifts on such as 
merely please her individual caprice, but are 
unprofitable servants." 

The Five Worst Maladies. 

The Greater Learning for Women must 
have been written by a Japanese Lord 
Chesterfield. It is a very gospel of expedi- 
ency, founded on very much his lordship's 
caustic view of human nature. What fol- 
lows is the climax of Woman according to 
Man. 

"The five worst maladies that afflict the 
female mind are: — Indocility, discontent, 
slander, jealousy, and silliness. Without 
any doubt these five maladies infest seven or 
eight out of every ten women, and it is from 
these that arises the inferiority of women to 
men. A woman should cure them by self- 
inspection and self-reproach. The worst of 
them all, and the parent of the other four, is 
silliness. 

" Woman's nature is passive. This pas- 
siveness, being of the nature of the night, is 
dark. Hence, as viewed from the standard 
of man's nature, the foolishness of woman 
fails to understand the duties that lie before 
her very eyes, perceives not the actions that 
will bring down blame upon her own head, 
and comprehends not even the things thraf 



019 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



will bring down calamities on the heads of 
her husband and children. Neither when 
she blames and accuses and curses innocent 
persons, nor when in her jealousy of others 
she thinks to set up herself alone, does she 
see that she is her own enemy, estranging 
others and incurring their hatred. La- 
mentable errors ! 

"Again, in the education of her children 
her blind affection induces an erroneous 
system. Such is the stupidity of her char- 
acter that it is incumbent on her, in every 
particular, to distrust herself and obey her 
husband." 

The peroration is too long to quote entire, 
but it is a gem worthy of the occasion. It 
begins with remarking: "We are told that 
it was the custom of the ancients, on the 
birth of a female child, to let it lie on the 



this may be seen the likening of the man to 
heaven and the woman to earth." 

" Parents, teach the foregoing maxims to 
your daughters from their tenderest years. 
Copy them out from time to time that they 
may read and never forget them. Better 
than the garments and divers vessels, which 
the fathers of the present day so lavishly 
bestow upon their daughters when giving 
them away in marriage, were it to teach 
them thoroughly these precepts, which 
would guard them as a precious jewel 
throughout their lives. 

" How true is that ancient saying, 'A man 
knoweth how to spend a million pieces 
marrying his daughter, but knoweth not how 
to spend a hundred thousand bringing up his 
child.' Such as have daughters must lay 
this well to heart." These are specimen ad- 



floor for the space of three days. Even in ' monitions, supposed to contain much wisdom. 



CHAPTER XIII. 
STRIKING FEATURES OF JAPANESE LIFE. 



SIR EDWIN ARNOLD, the dis- 
tinguished journalist, author and 
traveller, has furnished a glowing 
description of Japan and the Japan- 
ese. The following fascinating account is 
written with the grace and brilliancy peculiar 
to all his productions : 

Arriving at night in a strange country, 
one always wonders what the daytime will 
disclose. It dawned on a scene of singular 
charm and beauty. Far and near, over the 
placid surface of "Mississippi Bay," as the 
inlet is called upon which Yokohama stands, 
rode at anchor a whole fleet of merchant 
ships of large tonnage, steam and sailing, 
seven or eight powerful men-of-war of various 
nationalities interspersed among them, her 
Majesty's vessels Severn and Wanderer being 
of the number. 

Amidst, and around, and beyond these, 
scores of native fishing craft, with square 
sails of many hues, traversed the bay, while 
hundreds of " sampans " — light rowing boats, 
constructed of broad planks of pine — 
skimmed the quiet sea, propelled after the 
manner of Venetian gondolas, by two long 
stern oars, which are worked under water 
with a sculling movement by the lively little 
brown-skinned watermen. The white hulls 
of the men-of-war, the black mail steamers, 
the brown and yellow native craft with 
variously tinted sails, the fluttering ensigns 
of many nations — amid which the Japanese 
flag of red and white was everywhere con- 
spicuous — filled the fair marine picture with 
bright points of color, and beyond the thickly- 



peopled water lay the picturesque town, 
planted on what was once a marsh, between 
two " bluffs," or ranges of hills, running 
inland. 

Here was Japan at last, the country which 
surprises and fascinates everybody who visits 
it — the " Kingdome of Japonia," as the old 
authors styled it — and of which good Master 
Will Adams, its discoverer for English 
people, wrote — " This iland of Iapon is a 
great land, and lyeth to the northwards, in 
the lattitude of eight and fortie degrees, and 
it lyeth east by north, and west by south or 
west south west, two hundred and twentie 
English leagues. The people of this iland 
of Iapon are good of nature, curteus aboue 
measure, and valiant in warre; their iustice 
is seuerely executed without any partialitie 
vpon trangressors of the law. They are 
gouerned in great ciuilitie. I meane, not a 
land better gouerned in the world by ciuil 
policie. The people be verie superstitious in 
their religion, and are of diuers opinions." 

Passing Quarantine. 

We could hardly have patience enough 
for breakfast on board the Belgic, so much- 
did the shore and the prospect of setting foot 
in the spacious city before our eyes excite 
the imagination. But the Japanese authori- 
ties are particular and punctilious. It was 
necessary to get a clean bill of health, and to 
fulfil all formalities, after which a steam- 
launch conveyed us, "bag and baggage," to 
the steps of the Custom House, which we 
passed with little or no trouble, and found 

213 



214 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



ourselves — with gait unsteadied by the cease- 
less movements of the Pacific waves — safe, 
sound, and well pleased on the soil of the 
" Land of Gentle Manners." 

Everybody has read and heard so much 
of Japan, by this time, and seen so many 
photographs of its people and places, that it 
cannot seem quite so novel, so astonishing 
to the modern traveller, as it was to Will 
Adams and his weather-beaten crew, when 
they came to "Nangasaque" and saw those 
scenes which the old seaman describes so 
well — "Then wee steered north north-west, 
and soone after came foure great fisher-boats 
aboord, about fiue tunnes apeece in burthen, 
they sailed with one saile, which stood like a 
skiffe saile, and skuld with foure oares on a 
side, their oares resting vpon a pinne fastned 
on the toppe of the boats side, the head of 
which pinne wos so let into the middle part 
of the oare that the oare did hang in his iust 
poize, so that the labour of the rower is much 
lesse, then otherwise it must be; yet doe 
they make farre greater speed then our 
people with rowing, and performe their 
worke standing as ours doe sitting, so that 
they take the lesse roome." 

The King's Musicians. 

And again — " The king came aboord and 
brought foure chiefe women with him. They 
were attired in gownes of silke, clapt the one 
skirt ouer the other, and so girt to them, 
barelegged, only a paire of halfe buskins 
bound with silke reband about their instep; 
their haire very blacke, and very long, tyed 
vp in a knot vpon the crowne in a comely 
manner: their heads no where shauen as 
the mens were. They were well faced, 
handed and footed ; cleare skind and white, 
but wanting colour, which they amend by 
arte. 

"Of stature low, but very fat; curteous in 



behauiour, not ignorant of the respect to be 
given unto persons according to their fashion. 
The kings women seemed to be somewhat 
bashful, but he willed them to bee frolicke. 
They sung diuers songs, and played vpon 
certain instruments (whereof one did much 
resemble our lute) being bellyed like it, but 
longer in the necke, and fretted like ours 
but had only foure gut strings. Their fin- 
gring with the left hand like ours, very nim- 
bly, but the right hand striketh with an 
iuory bone, as we vse to play vpon a cit- 
terne with a quill. They delighted much 
with their musicke, keeping time with their 
hands." 

A Country That Never Changes. 

People talk of Japan as already half-Euro- 
peanized, but within a couple of hours after 
our landing I had seen the quaint letters of 
the "Ancient Mariner" of Gillingham illus- 
trated in twenty particulars, and found that, 
like all the rest of Asia, Japan has caprices 
of fashion, but never really changes. 

Even here, where the Old and New 
Worlds throng Yokohama Gulf with snip- 
ing, and you may hear nearly every known 
tongue spoken upon the Bund, a walk of 
half an hour takes you away to scenes and 
customs which are as old as the beginning 
of the Christian Era, and older still. Under 
the thickest lacquer of new ways, the antique 
manners and primitive Asiatic beliefs survive 
of this curious and delightful people, in 
whose veins Mongol and Malay blood has 
mingled to form an utterly special and 
unique race. 

How is it possible to convey a tithe of 
those first impressions of strangeness and 
vivid interest with which the streets of even 
cosmopolitan Yokohama fill the observant 
newcomer? Look at these roadways, mois- 
tened with a recent shower! Nowhere else 



STRIKING FEATURES OF JAPANESE LIFE. 



215 



in the world would you see the mud marked 
with such curious tracks — innumerable trans- 
verse lines, parallel and sharply impressed, 
as if a goffering roll had passed everywhere 
along. These are the footprints of the geta, 
the wooden clogs which all Yokohama wears 
on wet days; and that noise, like the voices 
of very loud crickets, is produced by the pit- 
a-pat of thousands of geta, on the spots 
where the causeways are paved with stone 
or pebbles. 

The Tiny Japanese Lady. 

Plunge into the cheery, chattering, polite 
and friendly crowd going and coming along 
the Benten Dori, and it is as if you were liv- 
ing on a large painted and lacquered tea-tray, 
the figures of which, the little gilded houses, 
the dwarf trees, and the odd landscape, sud- 
denly jumped up from the dead plane into 
the living perpendicular, and started into 
busy being. Here, too, are all the pleasant 
little people you have known so long upon 
fans and screens. Take the first that comes 
along — this tiny Japanese lady, whom you 
left, as you thought, on the lid of the glove- 
box at home. 

Tripping along upon her waraji, she wears 
that kimono of puce-colored silk with the 
white storks, which you so well remembered, 
the obi of amber and blue satin, tied round 
her little body and swelling into enormous 
puffed bows behind — 

"* She's a little bit thick in the waist, the waist ; 
But then she was never once laced, once laced ! ' ' 

Her snow-white socks, which only just cover 
the little foot, are divided into a private room 
for the great toe, and a parlor for the little 
toes, which gives her the air of being a little 
pigeon with white feet; and she waddles 
prettily, somewhat like a pigeon. 

The kimono is folded demurely across her 



little bosom, and her long sleeves hang down 
from the small brown wrists and arms to her 
knees. In these receptacles she keeps sheets 
of soft tough paper, with which she blows 
her small nose and wipes the dust from her 
dainty skirts, besides innumerable other arti- 
cles of constant use, such as her cards, her 
chop-sticks, perhaps her special porcelain 
cup for tea. She has the little clear-cut 
almond eyes which the artist so faithfully 
depicted, the funny little nose — "adpressus" 
— flattened into the little rosy, laughing face, 
which presents a lovely mouth with the 
whitest shining teeth, full curving lips, and 
dimpled chin, and amber-colored neck and 
throat losing themselves softly in the tender 
folds of the kimono. 

Jet Black Hair. 

Her hands are small and fine, the little 
nails veritable rose-leaves; and in her glossy 
hair she wears a red camellia with ever so 
many little fantastic pins stuck up and down 
the smooth waves of it. But there is where 
the artist of the fan and glove-box failed. 
His palette had not any black pigments 
black enough to represent the night-dark 
depths of the tresses of the Japanese girl. 

Those puffed and perfumed bandeaux of 
oiled coiffure, so carefully dressed and ar- 
ranged so that no single hair strays from the 
rigid splendor of toilette-room, would make 
a jetty spot on the heart of midnight. So 
black that the very highest lights of it are 
blue-black beyond inky blackness, black so 
that ebony would be grey beside it, the glit- 
tering tenebrosity of it makes her little visage 
and her little nape and throat emerge like 
dyed ivory from the contrast. 

Then the Kuruma-ya, the jinrikisha men! 
Much as you have heard and read about 
them, you will almost die with laughter when 
you call one from the stand where the little 



216 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



machines are ranged like fairy hansom cabs, 
and start for your first ride. 

With a hat on his shaggy head like a 
white washing-basin, with a red or blue 
blanket over his shoulders, his little legs 
tightly encased in black cloth drawers, his 
feet thrust into straw sandals, his name and 
number gaily painted on his back, "San-ju- 
ban," or whatever else his ticket proclaims 
him, starts off at a run with the ridiculous 
perambulator into which you have entered, 
and whisks you here, there, and everywhere 
for fifteen cents, his little hoofs twinkling 
between the slender shafts, bedecked with 
bands of tin-foil. 

On all sides, as you walk about Yoko- 
hama, the cry will be heard from the 
Kuruma stands of "S/ia, Sha/" answering 
to the London "Keb, sir!" and should you 
have picked up a little of the language the 
polite phrases of the two-legged steed will 
be a good sample of "honorific Japanese." 
"If the honorable lord does not give himself 
the trouble of much illustrious delay, the fare 
will only be 20 sen. Condescend to make 
gracious use of this worthless servant!" 
Then the children. 

Playful Children. 

Japan is evidently a Paradise for babies 
and boys and girls. The babies are one and 
all slung upon the back in a deep fold of the 
kimono. There they sleep, eat, drink, and 
wobble their little shaven pates to and fro, 
with jolly little beaming visages, and fat 
brown hands and arms. The children are 
friends of everybody, and play ball and fly 
kites in the most crowded thoroughfares, 
never rebuked, never ill-treated, with grave 
happy ways, and long flowing robes, which 
give a certain quaint dignity to even the 
youngest. 

Coolies go about carrying huge burthens 



on balanced bamboo baskets; fishermen 
hawk odd-looking piscine specimens in white 
tubs ; the blind ainma, or shampooer, wan- 
ders up and down tooting a plaintive note 
upon a double pipe of reed, to notify that he 
is ready to knead and pummel anybody 
troubled with rheumatism ; the is ha, or phy- 
sician, passes with his drug-case hitched into 
his waistband by an ivory netske ; the miller, 
standing naked behind the string-screen of 
his shop, grinds rice between two stones, 
his brown limbs powdered with the fine 
flour; the bath-man lifts the blue cloth cur- 
tain of his establishment, and begs you to 
" make honorable entrance." 

Baths of Hot Water. 

If you do you will see all sorts and con- 
ditions of men — and women, too — amicably 
tubbing together, and will be yourself invited 
to disrobe and sit in a tub, which will scald 
you, if not heedful, for the Japanese take 
their baths at nearly the temperature which 
boils an egg. And the little shops, and the 
little goods, and the little, funny, impossible 
articles bought and sold; and the little, 
placid, pleasant folk laughing and trotting 
about the ways ; and the little trees growing 
in every nook, and the little absurd cakes 
and little morsels of food, and little cups and 
little bowls which they use. I know I abuse 
this adjective "little," but all in Japan is 
chisai, choito, except the shrimps — which are 
colossal — and the sea, and the mountains. 

But the word "mountains" reminds me 
of Fuji-San, and one ought to speak first of 
this prodigious and renowned eminence, 
which is clearly visible from many spots in 
Yokohama. So, for the present, I leave the 
ever- wonderful population of the Japanese 
towns and pay tribute of distant respect to 
sublime "Fuji." The highest mountain in 
Japan, it stands between the provinces of 



STRIKING FEATURES OF JAPANESE LIFE. 



217 



Suruga and Kai. Its height is variously 
stated at 12,234 English feet, 12,365 feet > 
and 13,287 feet. 

According to the ancient Japanese legend, 
Fuji arose in a single night, while the Biwa 
Lake, near Kioto, was formed simultaneously. 
Eruptions are mentioned as having taken 
place in the years 799, 864, 936, 1082, 1649, 
and 1707. The last began December 16, 
1707, and continued till January 22, 1708. 
On this occasion the hump called Ho-yei-zan, 
on the upper slope of the south side of the 
mountain, was formed. 

Mount Fuji stands by itself, rising with 
one majestic sweep from a plain which is 
almost surrounded by ranges of mountains. 
The southern side curves down to the sea, 
its graceful line being only broken on the 
south-east by the rugged peaks of Ashidaka- 
yama. The ascent can be made from five 
different points, viz., Murayama, Suyama, 
Subashiri, Yoshida, and Shito-ana. The 
slope of the mountain is richly cultivated 
with rice, tea, tobacco, millet, and various 
vegetables, and higher up the paper plant 
abounds. 

A Fine Mountain Peak. 

Although in the present day it is not 
necessary to obtain permission before making 
the ascent, still a certain amount of etiquette 
attaches itself to the formal ceremony of 
opening the mountain on the first day of the 
eighth moon. Our earliest glimpse of this 
famous volcano, the finest peak of its kind in 
the world, was obtained from the " 101 steps." 
At the top of these steps, beyond the Creek 
of Yokohama, is a Tea House, known to all, 
called "Fujiya" or the "Abode of the Wis- 
teria." We had repaired thither to drink 
the little cups of pale yellow beverage for 
which the Japanese have so refined a passion, 
and to nibble the little yellow and red cakes, 



and, smoke the little brass pipes, while chat- 
ting with O Take San, the agreeable Lady 
of the Establishment. 

We had finished a repast, calculated to 
stay the appetite, perhaps, of a butterfly, or 
a Japanese; had heard the music of the 
"samisen," and some less abstruse melodies, 
among them a song composed to a Yoko- 
hama belle by an American officer, of which 
here are two verses — 

" I strive to make love, but in vaiu, in vain, 
My language, I know, is not plain, not plain, 
Whenever I try, 
She says, ' Go men nasai 
Watakshi wakarimasen-masen.' 

" She plays on the soft ' samisen, ' ' samisen,' 
She sings me a song now and then — and then, 
And when I go away 
She sweetly will say, 
' Sayonara ! ' ' Do please come again — again.' " 

Silvered With Snow. 

Our " afternoon tea " was concluded, the 
shoji (a screen of frame and paper) was drawn 
back, we resumed our shoes, and with many 
a "O yasumi nasai!" and "Sayonara!" pro- 
ceeded to descend the " 10 1 steps." It was 
nearly sunset, and lo! half-way down in the 
rosy west, suddenly we spied the glorious 
hill raising its sharply pointed cone, all 
brilliant with snow, above the belt of light 
grey and rosy clouds which lay along the 
horizon. Although sixty or seventy miles 
distant, the giant peak stood forth plain as a 
silhouette of silver upon the golden back- 
ground of the western heavens. 

It was good to behold Fuji-San — the 
" Lady of Mountains" — so soon after arrival, 
and no wonder could be felt, even from that 
dim and remote vision, that the Japanese 
revere their beautiful and isolated volcano. 
Innumerable are the legends attaching to it. 
On the summit dwells a deity — the guardian 
God of the Crater — who is styled " O-ana- 



L'l8 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



Mochi no Mikoto," the "Protector of the 
Great Hole." 

The sand brought down during the day- 
time by the feet of many pilgrims reascends 
of itself during the night. On the fifteenth 
day of the sixth moon the snow all disappears 
from the summit for twelve hours, to make 
the visit of the goddess "Fuji-Sen-Gen" 
perfectly convenient ; and reappears the fol- 
lowing day quite punctually. 

A Theme for Poets. 
The smoke of Fuji, her snows, her green 
girdle of canes and vines, her feet sandalled 
with flowers, her bosom from which issue 
streams fertilizing the plains, her perfect con- 
tour, her majestic beauty, fill Japanese poetry 
with passionate themes of eulogy and adora- 
tion. One native bard exclaims — 

"What words can tell, what accents sing 
Thine awful grandeur ? ' Tis thy breast 
Whence Fuzugawa's wavelets spring, 
Where Narusana's waters rest." 

Divine, truly, in majesty and grace rose 
the tall peak, about the precise height of 
which in feet and metres it seems almost 
impious to dispute, when the living lovely 
vision of this mountain once comes in sight. 
For days and weeks together the clouds 
often shroud that splendid cone, and you can 
only know where Fuji-San stands by the 
masses of cumuli and cumulo-strati gathered 
about her from the Pacific Ocean at her foot. 

All the more happy did we feel to catch a 
glance of the Goddess on the third day of our 
sojourn in Japan. The omen was good, and 
we mounted our jinrikishas and trundled 
home through the twinkling paper lanterns 
and busy little streets, with the resolve to see 
Fuji presently close at hand, even though 
the season should forbid the ascent of its 
sublime slopes. 

We are on English soil again, for a time, 



being the happy guests of the British Minis- 
ter and Mrs. Fraser, at her Britannic Ma- 
jesty's Legation in Tokio, the capital city 
of Japan, formerly known as Yeddo. The 
run by railway from Yokohama is short but 
interesting. The carriages are of the Eng- 
lish pattern; the names of the stations are 
painted up in English as well as in Japanese, 
and the eighteen miles of flat country are 
traversed in about three-quarters of an hour. 
In quitting Yokohama you pass under a large 
Shinto Temple, and skirt the fishing town of 
Kanagawa ("The Metal River"), where for- 
eigners were first settled. 

Tobacco and Rice Fields. 

Then you come to Tsurumi ("Place to 
See Storks"), surrounded by extensive rice- 
fields, in which the people were reaping the 
ripe stalks and hanging them in circular- 
shaped sheaves upon the stems of the trees, 
so that every hedge-row presented a most 
curious appearance with these lines of 
swathed trunks. Tobacco grew green and 
plentiful everywhere, with patches of onions 
and of those gigantic radishes which the 
Japanese so much affect. Kawasaki (" River- 
Bend") is next passed, where numberless 
cargo-boats thatched with mats, and gliding 
sampans, driven by big-handled oars, testify 
to a lively water traffic. 

The boat women work and row with their 
babies tied upon their backs, the little black 
round heads and doll-like eyes wagging and 
winking behind the totally unconcerned 
mother. Omori ("The Great Forest") suc- 
ceeds, but its trees have mainly disappeared, 
though Kamada, close by, is famous for its 
plum-blossoms in April. 

The love of the people for flowers is one 
of their many charming traits. We are too 
late or too early, for the red and white 
lotuses, the tree-peonys and the golden 



STRIKING FEATURES OF JAPANESE LIFE. 



219 



lilies, which, with the jasmines and roses, 
embellish the spring and autumn lakes and 
fields ; but it is the cream of the season for 
the chief blossom of Japan, her Imperial 
symbol — the chrysanthemum; and truly 
splendid are the displays seen of this many- 
hued and multiform flower. 

Exhibitions of the National Flower. 

Half the women wear a purple or amber 
pompone in their hair or bosom, and one of 
our objects in coming at once to Tokio is to 
be present at the annual exhibition of chry- 
santhemums, held in the Emperor's gardens. 
Passing Ikegami ("The Upper Lake"), we 
next see a famous temple, dedicated to the 
ancient Buddhist saint, Nichiren, and another 
sacred to Daikoku, the God of Wealth and 
Good Fortune, whose highly comic picture 
— sitting upon bags of rice which rats are 
busily gnawing — figures on all the one and 
five yen bank-notes current in Japan. 

The jocund spirit of the people manifests 
itself even in these grave matters of finance. 
They will not and cannot take either life 
or religion seriously. Another ornamental 
shrine hereabouts, rich with lacquer and 
carvings, is raised in honor of Mioken, the 
Pole-Star. And thus our train comes to 
Shinagawa ("River of Merchandise"), at 
the head of the Gulf — a place mainly popu- 
lated by fishermen, who catch and sell 
extraordinary quantities of odd-looking fish, 
and of those gigantic blue shrimps already 
observed. 

The line now curves round, through sub- 
urbs of the metropolis, styled respectively, 
Mita ("The Three Fields") and Shimbashi 
("The New Bridge"); and then we are in 
the station of Tokio, a really vast city, nine 
miles long and eight miles wide, containing 
over a million of inhabitants, the seat of 
Government, as well as of the Shiro, or 



Castle, wherein resides his Imperial Majesty 
the Mikado. This Shiro, with its huge ram- 
parts of cyclopean masonry and wide moats 
full of wild fowl, banked by lofty slopes of 
grass and rows of ancient trees, is one of 
the perpetually striking features of Tokio. 

While driving or riding in a jinrikisha you 
are always entering or leaving its massive 
gateways, guarded by neat little soldiers, 
and capped with Chinese-looking gate- 
houses. The broad moats swarm with fish, 
as well as with teal, widgeon and duck, but 
nobody is permitted to angle or shoot there. 

Picturesque Scenes. 

Tokio gives the impression of being mainly 
a bigger Yokohama, without the beautiful 
sea view, albeit it possesses its own maritime 
quarter, and is washed there by the head 
of the Gulf, into which runs the River 
Sumida. Yet the interminable thorough- 
fares present a far fuller stream of life, and 
even more surprising novelties than the sea- 
port. Nothing but an instantaneous photo- 
graph, carefully colored, could impart even 
an idea of the picturesque population of the 
Nakadori or of Ginza Street. 

The trundling jinrikishas; the little shock- 
headed Japanese in dark blue coats and tight 
trousers; the tiny womenkind with hair 
banded and brushed into fantastic, glossy, 
immovable coiffures ; the mothers with the 
slit-eyed babies lashed upon their backs — 
so like to dolls that you almost look for the 
wire wherewith to make them wink and 
squeak ; the smart little soldiers in brick-red 
breeches; the immaculately gloved police- 
men; the postmen in soup-plate hats run- 
ning along with letter-bags; the endless 
clatter of the innumerable wooden pattens; 
the shuffling of the countless waraji; the 
slow, shaggy oxen dragging the bamboo 
wagons ; the pretty, grave, delightful, happy 



220 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



children, racing along the public way, with 
flowing sleeves, like those of a Master of 
Arts, and flowers in their hair, or flying 
kites of astonishing devices, or clambering 
ibout the stone gods and demons of some 
Buddhist temple, or broadly and blandly 
.taring at the foreigner with languid almond 
yes and little painted mouths wide open are 



keepers ; the cakeman with his tinkling bell; 
the blind amma or shampooer; the small 
black and white houses, ranged in endless 
rows as if out of a wooden toy-box, with 
paper fronts and sliding shoji; the tootling 
of the tramcar horns; the spick and span 
musumes tripping, with shining tresses and 
pigeon-feet, to dance or to dinner; the start- 




JAPANESE BUDDHIST PRIESTS 

conspicuous and form a part of this novel 
ind attractive spectacle. 

The fishermen, with specimens of piscine 
latural history which make mermaids com- 
monplace, and sea-serpents appetizing; the 
gigantic radishes; the absurd English in- 
scriptions on the sign-boards; the funny 
small shops, with their hanging screens of 
olue cloth and reeds; the squatting shop- 



ling things in toyshops, and restaurants, and 
"butcheries" where badgers, wild boars and 
silver pheasants are hanging up at the poul- 
terers', beside ducks, and snipe and hares; 
the great kites and noisy crows sweeping 
round and round above the traffic of the 
bazaar, and at the four-cross way, where a 
long vista opens westward, Fuji's grand and 
perfect peak sixty miles off, towering above 



STRIKING FEATURES OF JAPANESE LIFE. 



221 



the rosy clouds of sunset, lifting itself to our 
far-off gaze in such majesty of form and 
color as no other mountain in the world 
possesses — a sight that puts on the other 
sights, as it were, the Creator's own mark 
when He made this wonderful, delightful, 
unique and mysterious Japan. 

Dark blue, d;;rk grey, puce, purple, and 
black embroidered with white, are the lead- 
ing colors of the autumn dresses of the 
Japanese out of doors, so that the general 
aspect of the moving crowd is not so varie- 
gated as the throng of an Indian town pre- 
sents. 

A Merry Crowd. 

But a happier looking population can no- 
where be studied; they go chattering and 
laughing along, the porters singing between 
their balanced burdens, the air all full, far or 
near, of pretty salutations — " O hayo ! O 
hayo gozaimas ! " or " Sayonara ! sayonara ! ' ' 
and at evening, " O yasumi nasai ! " (" Con- 
descend to take honorable repose!") 

The deep reverences these little people 
make to each other in the street are charm- 
ing for grace and apparent goodwill — the 
commonest coolie bends with the air of a 
finished teacher of deportment when he meets 
a friend or accepts an engagement. Indoors 
the obeisances are more lowly still. The 
little foreheads touch the earth or the spot- 
lessly clean mats, and the little hands, almost 
always exquisitely formed — are spread out, 
while the kneeling musume prostrates her- 
self and musically utters the irrashai ! 

The children in the streets are for ever 
breaking into a dancing run for pure glee of 
existence, clattering along in merry groups 
upon their wooden clogs. Or else they 
gather at street corners and play softly bois- 
terous games with each other, singing songs 
and beating hands to the tune. I secured the 



words of one of these, where the little brown- 
eyed, black-pated, Japanese babies stood in 
a ring, and swung their hands first outwards 
and then inwards, simultaneously. 

It seems they were thus alternately imita 
ting the opening and the closing of flowers 
expanding the circle at the word " hiraita ' 
(" opened "), and contracting it at " tzubonda' 
("closed"). This joyous little street song 
in the vernacular, was — 

"Hiraitu ; hiraita! 
Nanno hana hiraita ? 
Renge no hana hiraita, 
Hiraita to omottara, mata tsubonda. 

' ' Tsubonda ; tsubonda 
Nanno hana tsubonda ? 
Renge no hana tsubonda 
Tsubonda to oniottara, matta hiraita.'' 

Which is, being interpreted — 

' ' Opened ; opened ! 
Which is the flower has opened ? 
The lotus-flower has opened. 
You thought so, but now it is shut. 

' * Shut ! Close shut ! 
Which is the flower that's shut? 
'Tis the lotus blossom that's folded. 
You thought so, but now it expands ! " 

There is another graceful nursery rhyme 
that the dark -eyed Japanese babies sing in 
the streets, which goes — 

"Chocho! Chocho! 
Na no ha ni tomare 
Na no ha ni akitara 
Yoshi no ha ni tomare." 

And this, again, in English as simple, is— 

"Butterfly, butterfly! 

Light on the rape and feed ; 
If you are tired of honey there, 

Fly to the flower of the reed." 

But the place of places in Tokio to see the 
Japanese small folk is Asakusa, a quarter 



222 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



where a kind of permanent fair is established 
round the eminently popular temple of Kin 
Riu Zan. In this large and striking edifice 
is preserved a small image of the Goddess 




A JAPANESE PAGODA. 

Kwannon Sama, made of pure gold, which 
was hauled up in a net from the Sumida 
River, and is too sacred ever to be publicly 
exhibited. 



The shrine is naturally a favorite one with 
fishermen, but all classes frequent it, and 
curious it is to stand within the sanctuary 
and watch the naivete of the worshippers. 
They go first to a little 
hut, and pay an infini- 
tesimal coin for leave to 
wash their hands and 
mouths with water from 
a wooden ladle, for it 
would not be right to go 
unpurified to pray. 

Then they pick out the 
particular incarnation in 
the great fane which suits 
their need, for one image 
is good at curing stomach- 
aches, another at bringing 
fish into the net, a third 
in making fair weather at 
sea, and a fourth figure in 
wood which will accord a 
becoming complexion if 
you stroke its face, has 
that countenance now 
completely rubbed fiat and 
featureless by the innu- 
merable palms of women 
and girls coming thither to 
benefit by the goddess. 

With hands and lips 
washed, the votary pulls 
a bell-rope which is to 
awaken the attention of 
the deity. Then he throws 
a coin or two into a 
grated receptacle, joins his 
fingers together, breathes 
the supplication or whis- 
pers the wish, and afterwards claps his 
hands to let the divinity know that the 
affair is terminated, and that others can 
take their turn. 



STRIKING FEATURES OF JAPANESE LIFE. 



223 



There is a pagoda near the temple, which 
is approached by a stone-paved walk. On 
both sides of this stand bright little shops 
for the sale of toys, ornaments, etc. The 
huge red building at the entrance contains 
two gods of colossal size, in large niches, 
protected by iron screens. They are the 
tutelary guardians of the gate, and are 
called "Ni-O" ("Two Kings"). One 
stands ready to welcome those who repent 
of their sins and determine to lead new 
lives; the other is the special god of chil- 
dren. The tame pigeons flying about are 
held sacred; and to give pious people an 
opportunity to feed them, women sell peas 
or rice in little earthenware pots. 

A Cluster of Pleasure Resorts. 

The Japanese do not visit Asakusa for 
pious motives only, but for pleasure also. 
Hence, within the temple grounds are thea- 
tres, archery galleries, tea booths, and a 
variety exhibition of birds, beasts and 
dwarfed trees. A white lath and plaster 
model of Fuji-San rises near, about 110 
feet in height and iooo feet in circumfer- 
ence. Large numbers ascend to the top 
daily, some days as many as 6000. All 
the paved way leading to the vast painted 
temple is full of toyshops, and all the small 
people of Tokio seem to repair thither on 
foot, or rocking about upon the maternal 
back. 

The clattering of the wooden clogs, the 
blast of tin trumpets, the flutter of flags and 
toy balloons, the laughter, the chatter, the 
gossip of brown matrons comparing their 
brown babies and their home experiences, 
the good temper and pleasant recreation of 
Asakusa in the afternoon, are things to re- 
member. 

Here, too, as in other quarters at the 
present season, there are chrysanthemum 



shows, and the natives will spend all spring 
and summer in training the vines and grow- 
ing the flowers for the exhibition, to which 
the visitor is charged about one cent. Each 
show contains two or three booths, fitted up 
with figures to illustrate some historical or 
traditional theme, and the chrysanthemum 
blossoms have been attached so as to con- 
stitute natural robes and scenic accessories. 
Sometimes a whole fable will be thus illus- 
trated by means of several distinct floral 
tableaux. 

Curious Little Trees. 

The skill displayed by these Japanese 
florists is abundantly entertaining; but the 
most striking objects are always those 
dwarfed and twisted trees which they know 
how to produce, so that, like the Chinese, 
they can carry about a fir or thuja, or plum 
tree, sixty or eighty years old, in a small 
flower-pot. This is obtained with infinite 
patience by pinching off the rootlets week 
by week, and nipping and training the ends 
of the branchlets till the tree is stunted into 
the exact likeness of a giant of the forest, 
while it will not measure, perhaps, more 
than twenty-four inches high. 

Then they dot these pigmy timber trees 
all about a tiny artificial hill, and plant all 
over it miniature rocks and crags, and dig 
out fairy-like lakes, and lead hither and 
thither absurdly pretentious little rivers, 
which, for their bridges, cataracts and 
rapids, might be the Nile, the Missouri, 
or the Orinoco; and near at hand they 
rear a delicious little tea-house, and sit 
there sipping ridiculously small doses of 
sake, from thimble-like cups, nibbling such 
tiny biscuits as might satisfy the appetite of 
a butterfly, and smoking microscopic pipes 
of brass and bamboo, which hold about three 
whiffs. 



CHAPTER XIV. 
5TREET SCENES IN YOKOHAMA. 



JAPAN is, after all, Japanese. What- 
ever its woods in spring and the 
lacquer of its temples may be, Jap- 
anese streets are neutral-tinted. One 
does not get the glorious reds and greens 
of the old tiled roofs and broad plantain 
leaves of Colombo, nor even the bright blues 
of China. One of the first things which 
struck me was the resemblance between life 
in Japan and life in Italy. The Japanese are 
the Italians, as the Chinese are the Germans 
of the East, and the masses present the same 
curious contrast of penurious economy with 
shiftlessness. 

They, too, are a laughing, light-hearted 
people, feeling life of so little worth or pros- 
pect that death has no terrors. They, too, 
to the very lowest, are Nature's gentlemen 
in their manners, but treacherous, revenge- 
ful and shifty in their bargains. They, too, 
are born artists, and have all the indolence 
of the artistic temperament so strongly that, 
without feudal influences, they produce noth- 
ing great as they did in the old days. The 
poor rather remind one of the Italian poor 
in appearance — clothes apart. 

And though their languages have no con- 
nection whatever, philologically, the same 
liquid note belongs to the genius of both. 
Such words as Tokio, Kioto, Yokohama, 
Nara, Hakodate, would sound as natural 
under the blue winter sky of windy Tuscany 
as under the clear December skies of blus- 
terous Japan. 

The Japanese, to the very lowest, have 
charming manners — a polish like their in- 
224 



comparable lacquer, and said by old foreign 
residents to be no deeper, though as difficult 
to chip through. Those who have had 
business dealings with both nations infinitely 
prefer the Chinese to the Japanese. The 
Chinese nibble, but they never repudiate. 
It is hard to pin a Japanese down in a bar- 
gain. He will never commit himself, and 
woe be to you if you go on trust, so say the 
oldest residents. 

Postmen in Bicycle Costumes. 

There are odd sights at every corner in 
Japan. His Majesty's mail is carried by 
postmen in blue serge bicycle club cos- 
tumes, with knee breeches and white cotton 
gloves, but frequently no shoes or stockings. 
To make up for this, they invariably wear 
solar topees on their heads. But the queer- 
est crew I have seen for many a day are 
parading about in green togas and limpet- 
shaped hats that look like extinguishers. I 
ask my jinrikisha man, who prides himself 
upon his English, who they are. He ans- 
wers in his terse way, for he deals in only 
one part of speech — nouns — "church peo- 
ple," and I have to be contented. 

The mention of church people and temples 
reminds me that it is Sunday. The Jap even 
keeps Sunday in a way. There are more 
people idle than on other days, and the upper 
class Japanese make a holiday of it. So do 
many of the Chinese, who go up to Tokio 
by rail (second class, not third), gorgeously 
attired in apple-green and sky-blue brocades 
and white silk stockings, smoking cigars of 



STREET SCENES IN YOKOHAMA. 



225 



the largest size. The Japs observe Sunday 
as they wear a European hat, because it 
stamps them as a superior class. 

It isn't due to the missionaries, for whom 
they have the most undisguised contempt. 
The well-bred Japanese shudder to think of 
missionaries, while the poorer class do not 
keep the Christian Sunday at all, but go on 
trading as usual, though they may possibly 
feel grateful for a day on which Christian 
shops are shut, and Christian buyers driven 
to the counter of the unbeliever. 

Curious Cabinets. 

Even odder than the postman is the key 
smith, with a beautiful brass-bound cabinet 
containing his tools, fringed with a regular 
pawn-shop of old keys. His cabinet has 
delightful little drawers. Every specimen of 
the Japanese cabinet-maker's work has these 
drawers in all sorts of out-of-the-way places, 
which fly open and close in the most unex- 
pected manner. These tool cabinets, especi- 
ally those which are made by workers for 
their own use, are veritable works of art, and 
seldom obtainable by foreigners. 

The Benten Dori, though a fair street to 
shop in, is not a very interesting one for 
native life. It is desperately anxious to be 
European in its style, though owned exclu- 
sively by Japanese. So it has a Pigeon- 
English signboard over every door, and asks 
Christians an exorbitant rate of profit. But, 
to-day, an ancient native, quite a Japanese 
Seneca, with shaven head and wrinkled 
cheek, and a neglige Roman senatorial dress, 
has strayed in, and is jesting gravely with a 
friend. We say to the jinrikisha man : 
" You go better street; more Jap anee." 

He rattles us off at a hand gallop (and 

there is a good deal of rattle in a galloping 

riksha) to the street where most of the native 

theatres are. This street is fuller of native 

Ja.— 15 



life than any other, for here they do their 
lounging. All along the street, carrying 
funny little Jap babies in hoods upon their 
backs, are big sisters or young mothers — one 
can never be very sure which, in Japan — for 
the Japanese mature, like rabbits, and don't 
look grown up until they are grandparents. 

One hardly ever sees a gray-headed man 
in Japan. It is such a queer, contradictory, 
upside down sort of country, that very likely 
producing a moustache is a mark of middle 
age, and a full beard a sign that one is 
approaching the term of man. 

Jealous Husbands. 

I notice a woman washing the steps of 
her dwelling, and that dwelling only the 
humblest type of Japanese shop, with its tiny 
open front, and its almost total absence of 
stock, veiled by paper slides and banners of 
dark blue ship's canvas, ornamented in white 
with cabalistic designs which may be letters 
of the alphabet. If she were to turn round 
I should probably be confronted with a row 
of jet black teeth; for the Japanese husband, 
who is jealous, considers it his only safeguard 
to render his wife repulsive to other men by 
making her mouth a Gehenna. 

Close by they are building a house (which 
will presumably be "somebody's" house) of 
black mud, on a very airy frame-work. The 
beaver makes a better job of it; but, on the 
one hand, he does not expect his handiwork 
to be upset by an earthquake any day, and, 
on the other, he does expect it to keep out 
the elements. Besides, it must be necessary 
to build things cheaply in Japan. 

I can't form the wildest guess as to what 
the poor Japanese lives on. There are forty 
millions, and one can gauge the rate of 
wages by the fact that one can go half a 
mile in a riksha for three cents, and buy 
a cabinet three feet high with half a doeen 



226 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



drawers and two sets of folding doors, for 
fifty cents. Yet every one is dressed well, 
and every one seems able to afford to pass 
a whole day at the theatre when he chooses, 
and to spend four cents on doing it, too. 




ORNAMENTED JAPANESE BRONZE 

And all the business done is in the pettiest i 
sums, and not too often at that. 

I give it up as to how they make their 
living, but the old resident growls out: 
"Make their living, and a jolly good living, 
too, the scoundrels! You've no idea how 



well off they are." Which I am free to 
admit. 

For vegetables, the poorer classes hover 
between the sea-weed stall and the radish- 
hawker. Other forms of green grocery are 
included in the busi- 
ness, but quite under a 
bushel compared to this 
mammoth radish — the 
daiku. The Japanese 
are very fond of it, but 
the Europeans of course 
pronounce it rank, as 
they would anything 
that was at once large 
and cheap, and relish- 
ed by the natives. 

The loads these poor 
people will carry on 
their shoulders are as- 
tonishing. I bought a 
palm tree when I got 
back to the hotel, four 
or five feet high, in a 
pot of earth a foot and 
a half square, which 
the hotel porters could 
hardly carry upstairs. 
The flower seller was 
carrying two of these, 
and a camellia, and 
half a dozen other large 
flowers to boot. For 
one of these enormous 
shrubs, in quite a hand- 
some fancy wooden pot, 
vase. I only gave him sixty 

cents; but twelve for the camellia. And I 
suspect that the hotel guide made him pay a 
pretty good brokerage out of this. 

The odd Jap lanterns are a great industry 
in the streets. The boys who paint them 
are hardly bigger than our babies ; but then, 



STREET SCENES IN YOKOHAMA. 



22T 



infants are very precocious in Japan. Every 
five minutes you meet some queer little slip 
of mortality, with its little arms tucked, in 
characteristic Japanese fashion, each up its 
own sleeve, and with its thoughts devoted 
*:o the nation (or perhaps marriage). 

How unwilling we are to turn our human 
horses' heads towards home. We feel as if 
we could stay out all night in this new earth 
(which has a very hazy idea, if any, of any 
heaven, new or otherwise). It looks even 
more like a willow pattern plate than it did 
from the deck of the ship. 

Borrowing Almost Everything. 

The Japanese seem to have borrowed 
everything. We know that they borrowed 
one kind of pottery from Corea and another 
from China; that they borrow every con- 
ceivable article from the civilization of the 
West ; that they borrowed their very alpha- 
bet from China. It seems as if they had 
borrowed their scenery, too, from China. 
The very fish-hawkers carry out the national 
idea, by borrowing a couple of yen (dollars) 
one morning to buy a load of fish, which 
they have to pay back the next with the 
inconsiderable interest of twenty-five sen 
(cents) — about 5000 per cent, per annum. 

However, the coolies at any rate are very 
Japanese, with their crested tunics. Noth- 
ing could be more Japanese than one I met, 
with his queer thatched stall balanced on his 
shoulder, and the innate brightness of this 
people, high and low, shining in his expres- 
sion. His mate was carrying a couple of 
piles of boxes and baskets slung from his 
shoulder staff, as milkmen used to carry 
their pails in New York. 

We hurry home past the Cricket Ground, 
which the English, as irrepressible as their 
own sparrows, have engrafted on the Land 
of the Rising Sun ; past the headquarters of 



the Ken or District, and the General Post 
Office (every public building with a gilt 
Rising Sun proclaiming its Imperial connec- 
tion); past the huge Consulate, over which 
waves the flag on which the sun never sets; 
past the Custom House Wharf, and along 
the bund to the Hotel. 

Dinner over, the younger and more frivo- 
lous members of our party went off to kill 
time in a way so regardless of its being the 
Sabbath, as to remind me of a fellow-pas- 
senger I had when I went round the Cape of 
Good Hope to Australia. He was a Hebrew 
and Saturday was his Sunday. I met him 
one Sunday afternoon going down the com- 
panion stairs. "Where are you off to," I 
inquired, for the afternoon was lovely. "I 
am just going to 'ave a game of poker with 
two or three Christians." I didn't feel lik« 
"seeing" him after this. 

An American Vessel. 

When they went off with malice prepense, 
as the law hath it, I came up into our sitting- 
room overlooking the bay, to muse and ask 
myself if it were really possible that I was in 
the land of marvels, the most artistic in its 
heaven-sent way since Greece lost the art. 

It was nearly nine o'clock when I came 
up, and from the beautiful Omaha, the 
United States corvette, which reminds me of 
an old-fashioned frigate with her graceful 
fiddle-bow, and of a faded belle with her 
retention of graces out of date in the present 
severe tailor-made fashion in ships, came the 
musical American bugle call. As I am 
writing, I hear the tinkle of "two bells," and 
the discharging of the nine o'clock gun. 
Looking out from the window I see, crisp 
and black in the moonlight, the lofty spars 
of the beautiful ship. How lovely is the pure, 
clear Japanese night following the shining 
Japanese day. I can see every ship in the 



228 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



harbor, and so still is the water that the 
reflection of the steamer lights seems to 
bridge the whole space from the ships to the 
shore. 

Yokohama was a good place to land; for 
nearly every one who goes to Japan from 
America does land here — chiefly, perhaps, 
from its vicinity to Tokio, the capital of the 
country. Besides, it is the principal foreign 
colony, and one can get excellent accommo- 
dation to recruit after the voyage, and a good 
many wrinkles about travelling in the interior. 
It was a great relief, after the close quarters 
on board the old chartered boats which run 
from Vancouver to Yokohama, to find one's 
self in the Club Hotel, with its fine hall and 
great, airy rooms, which had once been the 
quarters of the Yokohama Club. 

Very novel and strange it was to sit down 
to a regular French lunch of many courses, 
served by a crowd of spindle-legged Japanese, 
in their picturesque dark blue tunics and 
hose, who (most of them) could not speak a 
word of English, and took their orders by 
the numbers on the menu. 

In the Harbor. 

"Boy, bring me some No. i." Very 
funny we thought the shuffling noise they 
made as they ran about the floor, dragging 
their straw sandals by their big toes. 

Landing in Japan is most entertaining. 
The moment a ship drops anchor she is sur- 
rounded by a flotilla of the queer little native 
boats, propelled with one oar by half-naked 
Japs, who swarm up on the ship's deck, 
sucking in their breath and bowing to the 
ground as soon as they are on board. No- 
body patronizes them but the Asiatic pas- 
sengers. Saloon passengers go off in the 
hotel launches, which in a few minutes, 
threading their way through the swarming 
native craft, land you close by the Custom 



House and prepare for your reception at the 
hands of officials. 

Your luggage is carried up by a swarm of 
coolies. How quaint they looked the first 
time one saw them, in their tight hose and 
tunics, made of the universal dark blue 
cotton, ornamented in the back with some 
brilliant device in white or red. The coolie 
who carried up our hand parcels looked like 
a walking advertisement of the Waterbury 
watch. Most of them were barefooted, all 
of them were bare-headed, perspiring and 
smiling. Japanese smile from the day they 
begin riding on their sisters' backs to the 
day on which, to use a fine Buddhist phrase, 
they "condescend to die." 

Houses of Foreigners. 

There is a division between the native and 
European cities. The spacious mansion of 
the English Consul, a typical Eastern house, 
is on one side of the road, and on the other 
is the Kenchc, where the business of the ken, 
or prefecture, is transacted. Just beyond 
this is the Post Office, a large brick building 
in the American style, ornamented with the 
golden emblem of Japanese nationality. 
(The Japanese themselves can't, for the life 
of them, tell you whether it was originally 
the rising sun or a chrysanthemum.) This 
road is planted on both sides with flowering 
trees, blossoming the day we landed, in the 
middle of winter. 

Immediately after this, to our delight, we 
made our escape from the Lie-European 
town, as the Chinaman would call it, and 
struck the ordinary Japanese town in the 
Benten Dori (Venus Street). The houses 
here were, many of them, thoroughly Jap- 
anese — little one-story affairs, built of wood, 
with their fronts removed all day, replaced, 
if it was sunny enough, with dark blue or 
chocolate-colored curtains, like the door of 



STREET SCENES IN YOKOHAMA. 



229 



a tent, ornamented with the owner's name 
or device in huge white characters. 

Most of them in this street were shops for 
the benefit of foreigners — photograph shops, 
porcelain shops, basket shops, silk mer- 
chants', haberdashers', or curio shops of the 
third order. The second order are in the 
Honcho Don — the next street — which em- 
blematizes irs superiority by having the shop 
fronts glazed instead of open. 

White Straw Mats. 

Even some of the Benten Dori shops were 
un-Japanese enough to have counters. The 
true Japanese shop has a floor, raised about 
a foot above the street, covered with fine 
white straw mats an inch thick. On this 
the proprietor squats, the customer never 
stepping upon it without removing his shoes. 
The stock is partly spread out on the floor, 
partly on shelves, and partly hung from the 
ceiling. At the rear is a wooden ladder, 
like a ship's companion, leading to the attic, 
if there is one, and there is generally a pas- 
sage on one side. 

In the first shop a little boy was finishing 
off, with a hammer and agate burnisher, the 
gilt on one of the great "satsuma" jars 
which they make in Yokohama. We bought 
some 'note paper, ornamented with storks, 
temples, torii and Fujiyama, which we fondly 
believed to be what the Japanese used, until, 
a little lower down, we came to a genuine 
Japanese stationer, where we saw the hun- 
dred-feet rolls of porous wrapping paper, 
upon which the natives indite their billets 
doux, and saw them making the great white- 
covered account books, with knotted rope 
backs, so familiar to us now that we have 
been in Japan a whole week. 

The "church people," whom we saw last 
week in the bright green cloaks and limpet- 
shaped hats, turn out to be mendicants 



licensed by some temple in Kioto. After 
leaving the Benten Dori we crossed the 
canal near the police station, and were 
happy at last, for we found ourselves in the 
"theatre-street" — a genuine bit of Japan. 
At the very entrance was a theatre where 
you could sit all day for about eight cents, 
and smoke your pipe and eat your dinner. 
It was ornamented outside with huge sign- 
boards, covered with the most blood- curd- 
ling pictures of dragons, as big as ships, 
breathing the traditional fire; of women 
being cut up like beefsteaks; of blood- 
splashing murders, and hair-breadth es- 
capes, painted in all the colors of the rain- 
bow, the hue of blood showing up nobly. 

A Medley of Sounds. 

Most Japanese plays are really exceed- 
ingly clever in simulating wounds ; the mur- 
derer makes a savage cut, and blood spurts 
from his victim. A " tum-tumming " noise 
is kept up all the time the performance goes 
on, possibly to draw the attention of folks 
outside to the fact that the performance is 
going on. 

Outside the theatre was a row of little 
girls, seemingly about four years old, carry- 
ing the next baby but one in the haori on 
their backs, and discussing affairs with the 
gravity of matrons, or skipping about to get 
out of the way of the passers-by. Whether 
they were standing still, or he was having 
his head shaken off, seemed a matter of pure 
indifference to the baby. 

Close by stood the pipe-mender, with a 
rack full of second-hand pipes, ranging down 
to a penny in price; but most of his custo- 
mers preferred to economize, and have their 
own dilapidated pipes mended. Then we 
drove on and passed an Ameya, or maker 
of dough toys, which he blows out in glass- 
blower's fashion in the shape of gourds, 



230 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



cupids, cocks, etc.; and one of the little 
street stoves, where, by paying a penny, 
children can have a little dough and sauce, 
and spend the whole afternoon in cooking. 
We go nearly every day to this queer 
street with its theatres and bath houses, and 



street, picking up queer little articles of daily 
domestic use among the humbler Japanese, 
as artistic as a Greek temple in their obser- 
vance of the science of shape and ornament, 
and each with its little bit of allegory or 
famous legend hinted at. There were brass 




AMERICANS MEETING THE EMPEROR OF JAPAN. 



bazaars where they sell semi-European trash, 
and the inevitable pipe cases and hairpins. 
It has one most fascinating by-street leading 
off it, where the cabinet-makers and fourth- 
class curio sellers congregate. 

I have spent hours and hours in this 



bowls and plaques; pipe case clasps ; wooden 
and bone netsukes; metal inkpots for the 
belt, hardly differing from the Turkish; 
bronze mirrors, and miniature temple orna- 
ments ; inros of rare lacquer, chipped out of 
all value, but interesting as specimens; the 



STREET SCENES IN YOKOHAMA. 



231 



comb and mirror pouches used by singing 
girls, and what not. 

It was in this street that I bought at a 
cabinet maker's a couple of old temple ban- 
ners, twenty feet long, made of heavy cotton 
something like ship's canvass, painted one 
with the famous battle on the bridge between 
Yoshitsune and Ben-Kei, and the other with 
the great old General Toyotomi Hideyoshi, 
the Warwick of Japan. They are splendid 
pictures, full of life and color, though, of 
course, with the absurd Japanese disregard 
for perspective. I have seen forty dollars 
asked for one not to be compared with them 
in a shop in New York. 

The Famous "Bluff." 
And every day when we get to the end of 
Theatre Street, the riksha boys, who, being 
paid by the hour (twelve cents), naturally 
want to spin things out as much as possible, 
suggest that we shall return by way of the 
bluff. "You see where English gentleman 
live, very rich." 

Yokohama consists of at least five different 
quarters. The well-to-do foreigners all live 
up on " The Bluff," as the queer, flat-topped 
hill, of the orthodox Japanese pattern, at the 
entrance of the harbor, is called. Their 
places of business and the hotels are in the 
Settlement, separated from the Bluff by a 
creek, and mostly near the sea-front or Bund. 
At the back of this is " Chinatown " — Yoko- 
hama has a population of two or three 
thousand Chinese — and separated from the 
Settlement and Chinatown by the road to the 
cricket ground is the native town, faced in 
the front, mostly, by buildings in the Euro- 
pean style. Beyond this, again, is the 
Kanagawa Bluff, where the wealthy Japanese 
live, almost overhanging the railway station. 
The houses of the wealthy foreigners on 
the Bluff are some of them delightful. The 



unevenness of the ground gives a wonderful 
opportunity for landscape gardening, and 
with a bamboo brake, a few palms, a lotus 
pond, and one or two of the great stone 
votive lanterns they call ishi doro, one can 
be as oriental as Aladdin. 

The houses themselves are great, roomy 
bungalows, full of the artistic things which 
can be picked up so easily in this land of 
recently decayed feudalism, and which will 
make the owner's fortune, or remind him for 
ever of the quaint Eastern land in which he 
was a pilgrim and a sojourner after he has 
returned home, as the American or English- 
man in the East always means to do. The 
houses are full of picturesque, smiling, oblig- 
ing servants, and really their owners have as 
much quiet luxury as any reasonable man 
could desire. 

Beautiful Scenery. 

Away beyond the Bluff are the cemetery 
and the race-course, which seem to have a 
sort of affinity in the Anglo-East, and, be- 
yond them again, a scene of enchanting 
beauty, the Gulf of Tokio stretching away 
down to Yokosuka, with a long procession 
of crumpled headlands and islands; and 
right at one's feet a delicious little bay, with 
the sweet little village of Negishi nestling 
under the cliffs in its embrace. 

Negishi, with its microscopic farms and 
tiny village houses with steep thatched roofs 
of marvellously picturesque shape, and its 
dear little graveyard scooped out of the cliff, 
with rows of pitiful stone Buddhas at the 
heads of the sleeping dead, is an idyl. 

From the Bluff down to the Settlement 
the slope is so steep that riksha boys won't 
draw you down it unless they have a second 
man to act as brake, and won't draw you up 
it unless they have an assistant behind to act 
as propeller. It is bordered by rather nice 



232 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



little curio shops, which have very pretty 
little things at quite moderate prices. They 
have to tempt residents, who know the value 
of things. Visitors don't trouble the Bluff 
much, except when they are asked out to 
dinner by the people to whom they brought 
letters of introduction, and this is of course 



ANCIENT WARRIOR AND WEAPONS. 

at night. Then the people who entertain 
are prepared to receive their friends. 

Tiffin, as they call lunch in the East, is at 
twelve, and so we had been able to drive all 
round the native town, the Bluff and the 
Settlement, and back in time to see some 
performances by daylight of the street 




tumblers and acrobats and monkey-train- 
ers, who had collected round the Club 
Hotel on observing that a new ship had 
come in. The conjurer's principal tricks 
consist in lying on his back with his feet 
in the air, supporting tiers of human beings, 
or spinning an impossible number of large 
' wooden tubs at the same time, or eating 
flaming charcoal. In Japan his sleight- 
of-hand is not, as a rule, remarkable. 
I soon got tired of the conjurer, and 
persuaded the monkey-trainer to begin. 
The "monkey-business" was very funny 
in this particular troupe. There were 
two men, and a very pretty and pictur- 
esque young woman — a regular gipsy, 
as black as a Malay — who did every- 
thing with an up-tossed head and a 
haughty look in her eyes, as if she 
"couldn't be bothered." 

A Useful Attendant. 

Her duties were multifarious. She 
had to twang the samisen, beat the drum, 
and keep the monkeys' wardrobes sorted, 
so that the performers could dress up the 
animals without delay. If the Japanese 
only knew how exactly the monkeys 
counterfeit them in the eyes of strangers, 
they would execute every monkey in 
Japan. Now it would be an imitation of 
a swaggering, two-sworded Samurai; 
now an old hunch-backed mendicant 
woman, hobbling along with a stick; now 
the haughty master scolding a servant 
kowtowing and grovelling his forehead 
in the dust — always too lifelike. We live 
luxuriously at the Club Hotel. We have 
a fine sitting-room with five windows less 
than a stone's throw from the sea, a private 
entrance to the street, and bed-rooms en suite, 
for almost half what it would cost us to live 
in the same style at quite a second-class 



STREET SCENES IN YOKOHAMA. 



233 



London or New York hotel, and our first 
dinner will give you an idea of how we 
are fed. 

Our bill of fare that night included oyster 
and turtle soup, and fish better cooked than 
one ever gets it in an American hotel, and 
various kinds of meat, and poultry, and 
game, and entrees, and three or four kinds 
of pudding with fruit, and nuts, and ices to 
wind up with. 

This is the "roughing it" which we had 
pictured to ourselves, and we often have a 
quiet laugh over it. After dessert I spend 
a delightful hour in the snug library of the 
Yokohama United Club, one of the cosiest 
clubs I know, and then I come back to our 
sitting-room to join the others, ensconced in 
easy chairs, with the feeling of content one 
has when one has had a thoroughly good 
dinner as a climax to a tiring day on shore, 
after the enforced idleness of that tiring fort- 
night on a stormy sea. 

Quiet Enjoyment. 

We sit with the dreamy happiness of lotus 
eaters, listening to all sorts of unfamiliar 
sounds; the shrill ho-he-to whistle on the 
double bamboo, followed by the clop-clop 
of a blind man's staff proclaiming the wan- 
dering momu (massage operator — a task 
performed almost exclusively by the blind 
in Japan) ; the clattering of the riksha boys, 
whose vehicles we can count by the glim- 
mering lanterns of brightly painted paper; 
and at nine o'clock the bugling on the war- 
ships which summons to bed. The day we 
arrived, for once in my life, I obeyed the 
summons. I generally like to see the day 
duly finished before I turn in. 

The kind of curio-shopping I enjoy most 
is rambling about among the street curio 
sellers, who from sundown to nearly mid- 
night throng the Ginza in Tokio, or the 



Basha Michi in Yokohama. They crouch 
at the very bottom of the ladder among 
curio sellers. There are many rungs be- 
tween them and a place like the Fine Art 
Gallery. There are whole streets of curio, 
silk, fan and porcelain shops in the Honcho 
Dori — a continuation of the main street of 
the settlement — and the Benten Dori, which 
runs parallel with, and next to it. But the 
properly constituted curio hunter, who has 
less money than time on his hands, ferrets 
for curios as bookworms ferret for second- 
hand books. Even the Benten Dori, which 
is distinctly humbler than the Honcho Dori, 
is tame and extravagant. For even here 
there is some pretence of style and arrange- 
ment. 

Proud of his Boots. 

Personally I mistrust a curio shop which 
contains no second-hand European boots ; 
for it shows that the proprietor understands 
Europeans, and aims at business with Eu- 
ropeans only, at a corresponding increase of 
prices, and contempt for the little domestic 
curios, which show more than anything else 
how thoroughly art enters into the life of the 
Japanese. The lower class dandy in Japan 
values nothing so much as European boots, 
or boots which he considers to be a successful 
imitation of the European. Consequently, 
genuine Japanese bric-a-brac shops, with a 
native as well as a European clientele, are 
pretty sure to contain some of those down- 
trodden knick-knacks. 

Even the most modest of them have 
never quite the charm of a street stall to 
me. There is something so primitive, so 
simple, so humble, so childlike, so cheerful 
about the street curio seller. His whole 
stock-in-trade he can carry in two funny 
little piles of fiat square boxes, which he 
hitches to the ends of his shoulder bamboo. 



CHAPTER XV. 
OUTBREAK OF THE WAR BETWEEN JAPAN AND CHINA. 



ON the twenty-second of July, 1894, 
the startling news came from 
Shanghai that war between China 
and Japan was considered inevit- 
able. It was known that there was a feud 
of long standing between the two countries 
v concerning Corea. 

Corea is a peninsula extending down from 
the mainland and is in close proximity to 
Japan. In area it is nearly twice as large as 
the State of Pennsylvania. The average 
width of Corea is 135 miles and the whole 
length is about 600 miles. There are eight 
provinces, each with a Governor. The 
King's revenues, which are considerable, 
are obtained chiefly by the letting of lands 
and from a tithe of all the produce. The 
King owns nearly all the land property. 

The people are great sufferers through 
this system of land grabbing and tax farm- 
ing. Grinding poverty holds them in a 
relentless grasp. 

The capital proper is Seoul, a walled town 
of 250,000 inhabitants, about twenty-five 
miles inland and joined to its seaport by a 
badly made road. Seoul is in the heart of 
Corea and it is the one aim and object of 
every Corean to live there, for in the city 
every pleasure and vice is more easy of 
attainment and the chances of getting favor- 
ite posts by judicious flattering and canvass- 
ing of superiors are multiplied. 

The King is a puppet in the hands of his 

Court, and the country only preserves its 

independence through the jealousy of the 

Chinese, Japanese and Russians, all of whom 

234 



covet the land. Corea is claimed by Japan- 
ese and Chinese, and it is difficult to say 
which race the inhabitants hate most. They 
are, however, more afraid of the Chinese, 
who always assume superior airs as belong- 
ing to the dominant power. 

A telegraph has penetrated Corea and a 
wire runs from Wan-San, a seaport town on 
the east side, to the capital and Chemulpo 
on the west coast. 

It is the fate of weak Eastern kingdoms to 
be the prey of their powerful neighbors. 
Corea has not only to endure the rivalries of 
China and Japan, but is threatened with the 
dangerous assistance of Russia. 

Civil War in Corea. 

The Russians have long wanted an open 
Asiatic port to replace Vladivostock, which 
is icebound in winter time. Port Lazareff, 
or Gen-San, as the natives call it, about the 
middle of the east coast of Corea, would 
exactly suit them, but a Russian harbor 
there could hardly be accepted by Great 
Britain, considering that she gave up Port 
Hamilton on the condition of no Russian 
port being established in the Japanese Sea. 

In 1 89 1 civil war broke out in Corea. 
Ground down by official tyranny and extor- 
tion, the people rose in despair. A " national 
party," — the " Tong Hak " — took the lead 
and succeeded in securing a whole province. 
Then Japan appeared upon the scene, send- 
ing troops to suppress the insurrection on 
the plea of protecting her subjects. The 
Mikado's Government next proposed to 



OUTBREAK OF THE WAR BETWEEN JAPAN AND CHINA. 



235 



China jointly to recognize the weak Corean 
administration after a more modern fashion, 
but China as suzerain of Corea, would brook 
no interference. Then, therefore, the ques- 
tion resolved itself into a trial of military 
force between the rival empires. 

Li Houi, King of Corea, is the twenty- 
eighth sovereign of the dynasty of Han. 
He ascended the throne in 1864, when he 
was thirteen years old. 

He has a variety of titles such as " Son of 
Heaven " and " King of Ten Thousand 
Isles," yet this hereditary claim and all his 
grandeur did not save him the humiliation of 
being obliged to ask China's permission to 
assume rulership or pay heavy annual dues. 
The Chinese Emperor regards him as a vas- 
sal, but the King of Corea is so holy a 
personage in his own country that it is a 
sacrilege to even mention his name. He 
literally has no name to speak of until he 
dies. Then his successor allows him one. 

An Act of High Treason. 

To touch him with an iron weapon is high 
treason. One of his predecessors, Tieng- 
tseng-tsi-oung, died from an abscess in the 
neck in 1800 rather than have it lanced. 
His present Majesty , presumably, shaves 
himself. On the other hand, any subject 
touched by the King's hand has to always 
wear a brass plate to commemorate the fact. 

The King is now the Mikado's prisoner in 
his own capital, Seoul, July 23, 1894, though 
his subjects may not have known it, for this 
ruler of the Hermit Kingdom is a veritable 
hermit to the outside world, as invisible to 
his people as the Chinese Emperor. 

His Queen, who belongs to the noble 
Min family, is nearly a year older than he. 
Their son, Li Tchok, the hereditary or 
crown prince, was born February 4, 1873. 

Li Houi has a few ideas of modern ways, 



such as introducing the electric light into his 
palace. His time is largely occupied in re- 
ligious ceremonies. 

The Coreans are tall, well-formed men, 
very like the Chinese of the better class. 
Indeed, Corea in many ways is a kind of 
duplicate of China. 

A Corean's great weakness is hats. His 
imagination runs wild on hats, and he wears 
a vast variety of them. The ordinary rain 
hat, made of oiled paper, looks like a folded 
fan. The common hat is so made of bam- 
boo and hair cloth as to let in the rain in 
winter and the sun in summer. The upper 
classes always wear overcoats ; the poor 
only wear them by way of evening dress. 

Love for Children. 

The principal moral virtue of the Corean 
is that he loves his children so dearly that 
he neither slays nor exposes them. In re- 
turn, if a son meets his father in the street, 
he makes obeisance, and, if his father is im- 
prisoned, it is a sacred duty to hang the 
whole time about the prison door. 

There is no division of labor to speak of; 
each peasant makes everything he wants. 
Paper is the one manufacture. The national 
shoe is made of straw, with an aperture foi 
the great toe to peep out of. 

The Corean money, called " cash," is 
made of the basest and cheapest composi- 
tion. It takes three thousand "cash" to 
equal seventy-five cents of our money. It 
is all a Corean pony can do to carry $15 in 
"cash." In the country districts coins of 
greater value than " cash " are of no use ; 
one cannot get change for them. 

The causes of the trouble respecting Corea 
may be summed up as follows : 

First of all comes a permanent ill-feeling 
between Chinese and Japanese, who have a 
rooted dislike for one another. 



236 



OUTBREAK OF THE WAR BETWEEN JAPAN AND CHINA. 



Second, their mutual jealousy as the two 
great Far Eastern Powers. 

Third, there were Japan's vastly prepon- 
derant interests — population, shipping, trade 
— in Corea, against China's ancient suzerainty 
and her modern political control of Corean 
affairs. 

Fourth, the rebellion in Corea, threatening 
all foreigners, including Japanese, stands for 
something, but not so much as has been 
made out, for Corean rebellions are not very 
serious affairs. 

Fifth, Japan was exasperated by the de- 
coying of the pro- Japanese Corean rebel, 
Kim-Ok-Kiun, from his refuge in Tokio, and 
his brutal murder in Shanghai, winked at by 
the Chinese Government. 

Russia Seeking a Port. 

Sixth, Japan was afraid, not without rea- 
son, that China was about to settle her dif- 
ficulties with Russia by allowing the latter 
to occupy a port on the east coast of Corea. 
Finally, both countries believed themselves 
to possess powerful forces of the European 
kind, and were not sorry to have an oppor- 
tunity of showing what they could do with 
them. This was much truer of Japan than 
of China. 

A high opinion was entertained of the 
Japanese army. Up to the time of the 
Franco-German war the instructors of this 
army were Frenchmen. The result of the 
war was sufficient, in Japanese opinion, to 
make a change desirable, and the French in- 
structors were changed for English, Ger- 
man and Italian. Few of these remain, as 
the Japanese now think they know enough 
about the art of war to prosecute it without 
foreign assistance. 

The Japanese army is equipped according 
to the most modern ideas, and is of consider- 
able size, while the number of troops that 



China can put into the field is known to none 
outside of the " Flowery Kingdom," and to 
few within the realm. Their equipment, too, 
is a good deal of a mystery. The Japanese 
are not only well drilled and well armed,, 
but they are brave and competent. 

Regarding the suzerainty of China over 
Japan it amounts to very little. The " Son 
of Heaven," as the Emperor of China is 
styled at home, considers himself the suze- 
rain of the world. He was suzerain of 
Lower and Upper Burmah, and lost them 
both. Thibet is the only country the " Son 
of Heaven " would fight desperately for. 

The Crown Prince. 

Of the King and Crown Prince of Corea 
few entertain a flattering opinion. The 
Crown Prince is described as little better 
than a " self-opinionated idiot." The King 
is a slight improvement upon this. Corea 
alone is never in a position to make a fight. 
The country is impoverished, and under its 
present ruler is of no use to the Coreans or 
to anybody else. There are only a few hun- 
dred Corean soldiers at the capital, and they 
are of the opera bouffe order. 

The assassination of Kim-Ok-Kiun, if not 
the prime cause of the trouble between Japan 
and China, has had much to do with precipi- 
tating long-standing national enmities into 
active preparations for war. On March 27, 
1894, three men arrived at Shanghai from 
Japan. They took up quarters in a Japanese 
hotel in the foreign settlement. 

One of the three was Kim-Ok-Kiun, an 
instigator if not the instigator, of the Corean 
massacre of December, 1 894. For nine 
years Kim had been a refugee in Japan. 
Unsuccessful demands for his surrender had 
several times been made by the King of 
Corea to the Japanese authorities. As the 
Emperor of China is the acknowledged 



OUTBREAK OF THE WAR BETWEEN JAPAN AND CHINA. 



237 



suzerain of Corea, much surprise was felt 
that Kim should have dared to set foot on 
Chinese soil. 

An English journalist set out to probe the 
mystery, but before he found his way to the 
Japanese hotel the Corean was lying dead 
with three revolver bullets in his body. On 
the body of the murdered man was found a 
card, bearing the name, " Kim-Ok-Kiun," 
printed in Roman characters. 

The murderer proved to be one Hong 
Sjyong-Ou, a Corean of good position, re- 
cently a somewhat prominent figure in Par- 
isian society. He had, he said, assassinated 
Kim by order of the King of Corea. He 
was acquitted and set free. On Hong's re- 
turn to Corea after the murder he was re- 
ceived with honors, while his victim's body 
was subjected to mutilation and public ex- 
posure. 

Accused of Intrigue. 

It is alleged in justification of his assassi- 
nation by order of the King of Corea, that 
he had been intriguing not only with Japan, 
but with Russia, for the overthrow of the 
Chinese suzerainty. 

At Yokohama, July 22, it was reported 
that the war feeling was running high and 
the whole nation was much impressed with 
the refusal of the Government to keep out of 
the Corean treaty ports at the request of 
China. Corea was also reported to have 
executed the proposed reforms, but it was 
said that the acceptance by Corea of the re- 
forms proposed by Japan was conditional 
upon the withdrawal of the Japanese troops 
from Corea. 

The Japanese Government was surprised 
at this firm stand, which was supposed to 
prove that Chinese influence was paramount 
in Corea. In the direct negotiations between 
Tokio and Pekin, China ignored the Japanese 



counter-proposals, and was not willing to 
yield her prerogatives. 

Advices from Shanghai, July 23, stated 
that while war had not yet been actually de- 
clared, the outlook was not all encouraging. 
It was reported that Japanese gunboats, 
with a large force of troops are now bom- 
barding Corean ports. There was consider- 
able excitement in the city, and it was an- 
nounced that the Government was already 
organizing regiments to reinforce the regular 
army of the Empire. The greatest loyalty 
to the Government was felt at the emergency. 

Twelve thousand troops immediately left 
Taku with a fleet of gunboats, it was sup- 
posed for Seoul, with orders to fight the 
Japanese if they opposed China's occupation 
of any point in Corea. If war should be 
declared the government at Pekin would 
make a levy of 20,000 men from each Chi- 
nese province and send a fleet to attack 
Japanese ports. 

Distrust of Japan. 

It was generally believed that Japan did 
not desire a pacific settlement of the Corean 
dispute. As evidence of this, attention was 
called to the fact that as soon as one diffi- 
culty was overcome, Japan immediately 
raised another. The latest attitude of the 
King of Corea in the crisis was supposed to 
be due to China's decided measures to up- 
hold her claim to sovereignity over the 
Corean peninsula. 

The Chinese Government officially an- 
nounced that it was preparing to block 
the Yang-Tse-Kiang River and the bar neai 
Woosung at any moment in case of need. 

In this connection it will be of interest to 
the reader to have a detailed statement con- 
cerning the strength of the Japanese army. 

Immediately after the civil war the Em- 
peror of Japan, who had decided to " Eu- 



238 



OUTBREAK OF THE WAR BETWEEN JAPAN AND CHINA. 



ropeanize" his country and his court, saw 
first the immediate necessity of organizing 
the army. Young men were sent to study 
in the military schools of France and Eng- 
land, while French and English instructors 
were engaged to come to Japan. It was in 
1 868 when the French Empire seemed to be 
leading Europe, and had covered itself with 
glory in Algeria, Italy and the Crimea. 

Grotesque Helmets. 

The Japanese did not hesitate in copying 
the French army as much and as well as 
they could. French instructors were called 
to Japan, and the old huge, grotesque iron 
mask helmets — which were supposed to 
frighten the enemy — chain and lacquer 
armor, were replaced by modern uniforms 
copied from the French. 

The Japanese of all times have always 
been great warriors, fearless, full of courage 
and energy, nearly the whole of the male 
population being accustomed to the use of 
arms. They are able to stand any amount 
of fatigue. After the war of 1870, the in- 
fluence of France in the Japanese army 
yielded before that of Germany. 

Prussian officers were called to Japan, and 
the French "kepi" was replaced by the Ger- 
man flat and round military cap. But of 
late the French have come to the front 
again, and many of the best Japanese officers 
are graduated from St. Cyr, the Polytech- 
nique and Saumur. 

The army uniforms and equipments of the 
modern Japanese officer are exactly like 
those of the French. I have seen in Tokio 
many a young officer who, had he been 
walking or riding in the Champs Elysees, 
would have been undoubtedly taken for an 
officer of the French artillery. The Em- 
peror's uniform is that of a commander of 
artillery in France, the red band on the trou- 



sers being replaced by a gold one, and a 
similar uniform is worn by the male mem- 
bers of the Imperial family. As for the 
soldiers, they still wear the German cap, the 
rest of the uniform, however, being made 
like that of the French. 

Since 1874 conscription is law in Japan, 
and every male inhabitant in the country is 
subject to military service from seventeen to 
forty years of age. The Japanese land 
forces are divided into : 

First — Standing army — three years' ser- 
vice. 

Second— Standing army reserve — four 
years' service. 

Third — Reserves — five years' service. 

Fourth — Territorial army — eleven years' 
liability to serve. 

Size of the Army. 

The standing army reserves are required 
to serve sixty days each year, but the terri- 
torial army is called out only in case of 
war or grave emergency. A sweeping sys- 
tem of exemptions exists, but, as it is, the 
standing army comprises about 50,000 
soldiers. In a few days the number can 
easily be raised to 210,000, comprising only 
men who have served for the most part, 
three years. 

The proportions of the different arms are : 

Infantry . 102,382 

Cavalry 1,459 

Artillery 7,881 

Engineers 3,522 

Transports 55, 006 

Gendarmes 1,436 

Military schools 2,910 

Central staff 2,014 

Imperial Guard 5,59 r 

There are 450 staff officers, 3,360 com- 
missioned officers and 10,391 non-commis- 
sioned officers. 

The infantry is armed with an eight-mil- 



OUTBREAK OF THE WAR BETWEEN JAPAN AND CHINA. 



239 



timetre-repeating rifle, designed from Eu- 
ropean models by a Japanese colonel, and is 
considered superior to those of Germany 
and France. It much resembles the Lebel 
system. The magazine, when fully loaded, 
contains eight cartridges ; it has a ninth 
one in the breech and a tenth in the cham- 
ber, and it can be used as a non-repeater. 
The powder used is smokeless and produces 
very little noise. The bullet is of hardened 
lead, covered with copper. 

Quick-Firing Guns. 

The artillery is magnificently equipped 
with field quick firing guns, and they are 
drilled with a coolness, smartness and rapid- 
ity that would hardly be excelled. It is, 
however, to be feared that the Japanese 
artillery will not see much active service in 
Corea, the country being exceedingly moun- 
tainous and having no roads over which the 
guns might be transported. 

The Japanese cavalry, on the other hand, 
whose number is altogether out of propor- 
tion with the remainder of the army, is ex- 
tremely defective. There are but few horses 
in Japan, and they are not worth much. In 
spite of the greatest efforts, the Government 
has been unable to find a race of horses that 
could be acclimated. Nearly all the cavalry 
officers are graduated from Saumur, and 
can be relied upon as knowing their business 
thoroughly. 

The Japanese navy has been copied from 
that of England, though of late nearly all 
the cruisers and torpedo boats not built in 
Japan have been ordered in France. The 
dockyard at Yokosuka and the arsenal at 
Koishikawa are thoroughly equipped, and 
first-rate torpedo boats and the most elabo- 
rate ordnance are turned out there. The 
cruisers and gunboats are among the finest 
vessels of their class afloat, and they are 
34 



manned and officered entirely by Japanese 
who make competent commanders. 

Some years ago Japan gave up building 
or buying large ironclads, of which she has 
only five. On the other hand, they have 
thirty-two cruisers and forty-two torpedo 
boats. The Itsukusima and Matsusima, of 
French build, are of 4277 tons. The Chi- 
yoda steams over nineteen knots, the Naniwa 
(English built, of 3650 tons) has about the 
same speed, while the Yoshino has made 
over twenty-three knots, and is considered 
the fastest vessel of her class in the worlds 
the United States cruisers excepted. Most 
of these Japanese cruisers are not sufficiently 
protected, many not at all, and could not 
possibly engage the heavy armored Chinese 
ironclads at close range. 

Modern Inventions. 

All branches of the two services are ad- 
mirably organized, as well as in any Euro- 
pean country. The coasts are defended by 
modern forts, well armed with quick firing 
guns, and are provided with electric search 
lights, strategical railroad lines, telephones, 
telegraphs, etc. 

A well informed correspondent wrote to 
the London Times in the highest terms of the 
equipment an>J admirable military temper of 
the Japanese army. " The Chinese," he says, 
have sent an army to the Corea. But it 
would be as reasonable to match brave men 
armed with pitchforks against brave men 
armed with rifles as to pit, man for man, the 
Chinese in their present condition against the 
Japanese. 

" The Japanese are armed with the Murat 
magazine rifle, and there is no better rifle in 
Europe. It is manufactured at the arsenal 
at Tokio; 1200 men are employed, and 120 
rifles turned out a day in times of peace. It 
carries ten rounds in the magazine on the 



240 



OUTBREAK OF THE WAR BETWEEN JAPAN AND CHINA. 



Remington principle; the bullet is lead, 
coated with copper, that metal being plenti- 
ful in Japan ; the Geneva Convention has 
no jurisdiction here, so the copper bullet is 
not tabooed. 

" The Japanese cavalry are well equipped, 
though, to our ideas, badly mounted, but 
they are thoroughly aware of their short- 
comings, and are taking steps to remedy 
them by degrees. The horse they are 
mounted on is, after all, the horse of the 
country, and no animal could be better 
adapted for service in Japan or in Corea. 
The same applies to the artillery horses, 
which are simply 14-hand ponies, but strong 
and hardy to a marvellous degree. Their 
field guns are 7-pounders, made at Osaca on 
a patent of their own, I forget its name, but 
its action is simple and rapid and resembles 
Krupp's; they have also 12-pounder Krupps, 
and heavy Armstrong guns for the defence 
of forts. 

The German Drill. 

"Their drill is that of the German army 
twenty years ago. They are precise and 
steady, and the officers know their work and 
how to teach it. In the cavalry swords were 
carried on the saddle until the Emperor one 
day remarked it, and said that only gentle- 
men wore swords and the cavalryman was 
not a gentleman, so swords are not now worn 
on the body. 

"One great feature in all the barracks is 
the gymnasium. The men are thoroughly 
trained in this department, and some of the 
feats I saw performed by cavalry recruits of 
the guard at their general inspection would 
have done credit to any circus. 

"Their wonderful neatness, completeness 
and regularity is what struck me most. 
Everything was tidy, everything was ready, 
everything was there. Their only trouble 



was the wearing of European boots. Men 
who had all their lives been accustomed to 
straw sandals having to thrust their feet into 
hard leather boxes, so to speak, very soon 
went lame. But this is the only thing I 
noticed that required alterations after a very 
careful inspection of the three arms, both 
guards and line. 

Fine Soldiers. 

"The troops they remind me most of are 
Indian Goorkhas, and of all native and 
colonial troops that I have seen — and I have 
seen most of them — I would, next to 
Goorkhas, prefer a regiment of Japanese. 
They are brave, temperate, patient and ener- 
getic, and though the Chinese might be made, 
under European officers, as fine soldiers as 
they are, at this moment they are about two 
hundred years behind them ; and although 
the victory is not always to the strong, as 
was found out in the Boer campaign, from 
every data that a soldier can judge by, the 
Japanese should beat the Chinese in Corea 
with the greatest ease." 

To proceed with the narrative of events, 
it was reported from Yokohama, Japan, on 
August 1st, that although war had not been 
declared, several naval engagements had 
been fought. The most important of these 
was on July 25th, in the neighborhood of 
Japan, and was claimed by the Japanese as 
a "signal victory." This is not the view of 
the English press of Japan, from which the 
following account is taken : 

Three Japanese men-of-war, the Akitsu- 
shima, Takachiho and Naniwa, met at sea 
the Chinese cruiser Tsi Yuen, with a small 
despatch boat s the Kootsu, and the transport 
Kow Shing, and after an engagement lastmg 
an hour and twenty minutes captured the 
despatch boat and sai:k the transport, while 
the cruisers escaoed. 



OUTBREAK OF THE WAR BETWEEN JAPAN AND CHINA. 



241 



To fully appreciate the action the relative 
strength of the combatants must be consid- 
ered. On the Japanese side were the Akitu- 
sushima, of 3150 tons, and with a speed of 
nineteen knots ; the Takaschiho, of 3700 
tons, and with a speed of eighteen and a half 
knots, and the Naniwa, fully as large, power- 
ful and swift as either of her companions. 
The armament of these three included one 
42-ton gun, four 28-ton guns, twenty rapid 
firing and thirty-two machine guns. On the 
other side was the Tsi Yuen, of 2355 tons, 
2800 horse-power, a speed of but fifteen 
knots, and carrying two 8^£-inch guns, one 
5-inch and nine machine guns. The despatch 
boat was entirely unarmed, and being a 
wooden ship not steaming more than eight 
knots, her power of resisting capture was as 
small as her capacity to evade it. 

Immediately Opened Fire. 

The Japanese war ships were proceeding 
toward Jinsen (Chemulpo), when the Chinese 
trio were met. The Chinese war ships, on 
seeing the Japanese flagship, immediately 
opened their ports, instead of observing the 
usual courtesies, and began fighting, appar- 
ently to cover the retreat of the transport 
steamer, which left, promptly pursued by the 
Naniwa. At this juncture the transport was 
flying a white flag, as well as the English 
colors. 

What happened to her was not seen by the 
combatants, but was reported by the Naniwa. 
Her officers' account is that the flag of sur- 
render was no sooner displayed than the 
Chinese on board prepared to attack the 
boarding parties from the Naniwa, and, in 
fact, did fire on them as they came alongside. 
The boats then returned to the cruiser and 
the transport was sunk with one well directed 
shot. 

In the meantime, the Takachiho and 
J--.— 13 



Akitusushima engaged the Tsi Yuen and 
Kootsu. The former, after fighting stub- 
bornly for over an hour, displayed flags of 
surrender, and the Japanese men-of-war were 
approaching her, when she suddenly dis- 
charged torpedoes, which, however, the 
Japanese were able to dispose of. The 
engagement was then renewed more hotly 
than ever, until, finally, the Tsi Yuen turned 
and made off at full speed toward Jinsen, 
being pursued for one hundred miles by the 
Japanese, but was not overtaken. 

An Easy Capture. 

The Kootsu got aground in shallow water 
while seeking sheltered anchorage, and thus 
fell an easy captive to the Japanese. The 
Chinese fought their guns much more 
rapidly than their opponents, and had they 
not been so greatly outnumbered would 
undoubtedly have achieved victory. As it 
was, it is a strong testimony to the skill of 
the Tsi Yuen's commander that he fought 
two of Japan's best ships for a full hour and 
then escaped. 

From another account we learn that 
although the fighting, though of short dura- 
ation, was very severe. One of the Japa- 
nese warships got within a comparatively 
short distance of the transport Kow Shing 
and discharged a torpedo at her. The mis- 
sile was well directed and struck the trans- 
port fairly. A terrific explosion followed 
and the Kow Shing began at once to fill. 

Prior to the discharge of the torpedo the 
crew of the transport, which was armed, and 
the military force on board of her, made a 
hard fight against the attacking force. Many 
of those on board of her were shot dead on 
her deck. 

When the vessel began to sink there was 
great excitement on board. In the dire con- 
fusior that prevailed nr attempt was made to 



242 



OUTBREAK OF THE WAR BETWEEN JAPAN AND CHINA. 



lower the small boats. But even had such 
an attempt been made the boats could only 
have carried a small percentage of those on 
board. 

Every foreigner on board the transport, 
which had been chartered by the Chinese 
Government from an English company, was 
either killed in the fighting or went down 
with the vessel when she foundered. 

The loss of life was very great. Of 
nearly 2000 Chinese troops on board of her 
only forty were saved. They were picked 
up by the French gunboat Lion that was 
cruising in the vicinity. 

Only a short time elapsed between the ex- 
plosion of the torpedo and the foundering of 
the transport. The vessel went down sud- 
denly near Shopoint Island, at which place 
her commander made an attempt to beach 
her. 

The Tsao Kian, which was captured by 
the Japanese, was an old man-of-war that 
had been impressed into use as a transport. 
Many men were killed on board of her 
before she fell into the hands of the Japanese. 

The Kow Shing was the fastest vessel in 
Eastern waters, and the Japanese were glad 
of the chance of depriving China of her 
services. The presence on board of General 
Von Hanneken would also give an incentive 
to an attack upon the ship, as that officer 



was supposed to be on his way to take com' 
mand of the Chinese army in Corea. 

Another spirited battle between the Chinese 
and Japanese fleets was fought July 30th. 
After a fierce fight the Chinese ironclad 
man-of-war Chen Yuen, the largest and 
most recently built ship in the Chinese navy, 
was sunk, and two Chinese cruisers were 
captured by the Japanese. 

The two Chinese cruisers were the Chih 
Yuen and Ching Yuen. It was reported 
that another cruiser, the Foo Tshing, was 
also destroyed. The Chinese fleet carried 
about one thousand men, most of whom 
were drowned. Among the killed were two 
German officers attached to the Chen Yuen. 

The Chen Yuen was a battle ship of 7400 
tons displacement, carrying 14^ inches 
compound armor at the water line. Her 
battery included four 1 2-inch guns protected 
by an armored breastwork, and two smaller 
Krupps, eleven Hotchkiss cannon, two $%- 
inch and 6-inch Krupps in her main battery 
and a secondary battery of Hotchkiss re- 
volving cannon. She also had tubes for 
Whitehead torpedoes. 

The Chen Yuen was a sister ship of the 
Ting Yuen and was the most powerful war- 
ship in the Chinese navy with the exception 
of the Ting Yuen. Its loss was a serious 
blow to the Chinese navy. 



CHAPTER XVI. 
A JAPANESE ACCOUNT OF THE WAR. 



A CAREFUL review of the military- 
operations in the Orient is fur- 
nished by a well-informed Jap- 
anese, Julius Kampei Matumato, 
a graduate of one of our colleges, who fol- 
lowed closely the progress of events, and 
whose concise summary is as follows : 

Up to a very short time ago, Japan, by 
the pen and tongue of facts and artists who 
have visited the land of the Rising Sun, has 
been thought to be merely a country of 
poetry, fragrant flowers and picturesqueness. 
The Western nations hardly imagined 
Japan as a nation enlightened by a modern 
educational system, and developed in naval 
and military art to that pitch of excellence 
which lifted her into the position of a first- 
class power, and would enable her to gain 
an unbroken succession of victories against 
the largest empire on the globe. 

The war in the East is certainly interest- 
ing from more than one point of view. View- 
ing it from the humane standpoint, Japan is 
the true standard-bearer of civilization and 
progress in the far East. Her mission is to 
enlighten the millions of souls in the Celes- 
tial Empire darkened for generations. Politi- 
cally, Japan has lifted herself into the rank of 
the most powerful nations of the earth. Com- 
mercially, she has demonstrated herself the 
mistress of the Pacific and Asiatic seas. 

From the outbreak of the war, all the 
civilized nations, except England, have sym- 
pathized with Japan, especially the people of 
the United States. America has given a 
strong moral support toward Japan. It is 



not because this country is the warmest 
friend of Japan, whose wonderful progress 
in civilization is largely due to America, but 
because Japan is the propagandist of civiliza- 
tion and humanity in the far East. 

At the beginning of the hostilities a 
majority of the people had an idea that the 
overwhelming population and resources of 
China would soon be able to crush Japan, 
but they overlooked the fact that in our day 
it is science, brains and courage, together 
with perfected ammunitions of war that 
grasp the palm of victory. Thousands of 
sheep could do nothing against a ferocious 
wolf. So the numerical comparison has but 
little weight. 

The Military Spirit. 

Some sagacious writer compared Japan to 
a lively sword-fish and China to a jelly-fish, 
being punctured at every point. Truly 
Japan has proved it so. More than once 
the world has seen that that artistic nation 
could fight. The Greeks demonstrated this 
long ago and France in later times has seen 
a shining example. Japan was reckoned as 
one of the most artistic nations in the world, 
as the producer of fancy goods, as the lover 
of fine arts and natural beauties. But the 
world knew it not as a warlike country. 

"In no country," as Mr. Rogers says, 
"has the military instinct been more pro- 
nounced in the best blood of the people. 
Far back in the past, beyond that shadowy 
line where legend and history blend, their 
story has been one of almost continual war, 

243 



244 



A JAPANESE ACCOUNT OF THE WAR. 



and the straightest 'path to distinction and 
honor has, from the earliest times, led across 
the battle-field. The statesmen of Japan 
saw, as did Cavour, that the surest way to 
win the respect of nations was by success in 
war." 

Corea was a worthy diplomatic problem 
when on June last the Mikado ordered a 
Corean expedition. A brigade composed of 
infantry, artillery, cavalry, engineers and 
commissariat, with a contingent of nurses, 
clerks and artificers, in all about 5000 men, 
left Hiroshima. China then had 3000 troops 
at Asan, forty miles south of Seoul. In the 
meantime China hurried forward reinforce- 
ments. July 25th the Naniwa, the Japanese 
war-ship sank the chartered transport Kow 
Shing, one of the fastest vessels engaged in 
the Chinese seas, off the island of Phun-do, 
in Corea. 

"Work of the Navy. 

The first collision of the two navies re- 
sulted in the complete victory of the Jap- 
anese, in their capture of the Tshao-Kiong, 
a gunboat of 900 tons; in the destruction of 
another war-ship, the Kuan-Yi of 1 100 tons, 
and in the sinking of the Kow-Shing. The 
Chi-Yen escaped, but was badly injured. 
The Yoshino, Naniwa and Akitsu, which 
effected this destructive work, proved the 
superiority of the Japanese Navy. 

The battle of Asan which followed four 
days later was the first victory of the Jap- 
anese on land. The fortresses of Asan were 
situated on a hill at Seikan, an important 
position. In front of the hill are rice pad- 
dies and marshes crossed in the middle by a 
little stream which runs into the Asan Bay, 
and a narrow path leads up to the hill. It 
was a position easy to defend and hard to 
attack. Three thousand Chinese soldiers of 
Li-Hung-Chang's famous Black Flag Army, 



the flower of the Chinese Army, defended 
this position. 

At dawn the Japanese army began to 
move. Lieutenant Matsuzaki led his troops 
across the river under a deadly fire from 
some 500 Chinese troops who were in am- 
bush. As the fight took place in the dark 
and the river was swollen by rain the diffi- 
culty of crossing was great. In spite of all 
obstacles Lieutenant Matsuzaki got his men 
across with comparatively little loss, but 
soon after he had reached the opposite bank 
a bullet struck him in the chest and he fell 
dead on the field. 

Carried by Storm. 

The second part of the battle began at 
6 o'clock in the morning. The Japanese 
stormed the entrenchments again and again 
and eventually dislodged the enemy from its 
position. The Chinese broke and fled in all 
directions, leaving behind a large quantity of 
ammunition, which fell into the hands of the 
victors. The Japanese pursued the fugitives 
to Yashan, where they expected a stand to 
be made, but to their surprise found that the 
Chinese, evidently demoralized by their de- 
feat, had abandoned the position together 
with several hundred thousand cartridges, 
four cannon, 700 bales of rice and a large 
supply of clothing. Some important official 
documents were also found. 

Early in August an engagement between 
China's strongest ironclad, the Chen- Yuen, 
and the Japanese composite armored cruiser, 
the Hi-Yei, took place. The Japanese war- 
ship was handled admirably and showed 
desperate courage. After this fight the 
Japanese terrorized the Chinese navy and 
enjoyed complete sway on the sea. The 
Chinese fleet as soon as they saw the Japan- 
ese squadron fled into well fortified ports. 
Li-Hung-Chang and Admiral Ting recog- 



A JAPANESE ACCOUNT OF THE WAR. 



245 



nized the fact that if the fleet was destroyed 
there was not much to hinder the Japanese 
from marching upon Pekin. 

In fact, the Japanese became so bold that, 
on August iith, they attacked Wei-Hai- 
Wei, which is one of the strongest naval 
ports in Northern China. The Japanese fleet, 
consisting of twentv-one vessels, found the 
Chinese warships hiding in port. They took 
advantage of the darkness of night and crept 




A COREAN PORTER. 

into the harbor of Wei-Hai-Wei unknown to 
the Chinese in the forts and vessels. Six 
torpedo boats were sent out with the pur- 
pose of blowing up the Chinese warships 
anchored within. When midway a British 
man-of-war which was anchored there fired 
salutes for the Japanese vessels, it is alleged 
to warn the slumbering Chinese. Such an 
unfriendly act spoiled the plan to take the 
Chinese navy by surprise, and the Japanese 
retired. But for this warning important re- 
sults might have transpired. 



At the end of August the Japanese fleet 
bombarded Port Arthur for the second time, 
and took possession of some islands in 
Society Bay without the slighest molestation 
as a basis of action. 

On land, as at sea, the Chinese were flying 
from Corea, so little confidence had they in 
their own army. Both Seoul and Chemulpo 
and Kan-Hon were abandoned, and the 
Chinese retired to the North. Meanwhile 
Japan had strengthened her military position 
in Corea. The Chinese force at Asan had 
been completely annihilated. Japanese rein 
forcements were landed at Fusan and Gensai 
converging upon Phynonyan, some distance 
to the north of Seoul, in readiness to meet 
the Chinese army which was then concen- 
trating and fortifying the strong defences at 
Ping-Yang to made a stubborn resistance. 

A March Northward. 
The battle of Ping- Yang had strategical 
importance. The Japanese force in Seoul, 
about 17,000, then commanded by Lieu- 
tenant-General Nodzu, started on a north- 
ward march, August 7th, toward Pongsan 
through a country exceedingly rough and 
unfitted for military movements. To rein- 
force this army and to guard against an 
attack on the right flank 8000 men, under 
Major-General Sato, were sent by sea from 
Japan to Gensan, a port on the east coast 
of Corea. On September 15 th these armies 
were able to make combined attack upon 
the enemy at Ping- Yang. The Gensan 
column threatened the left flank of the Chi- 
nese, the Pongsan column menaced the 
Chinese centers, while the Hwang-Hoi col- 
umn, which had been reinforced the day 
before by a detachment from the mouth of 
the Taitong River, operated against the 
right. The defences of Ping-Yang were 
strong. Ping-Yang is situated on the north 



246 



A JAPANESE ACCOUNT OF THE WAR. 



bank of the Taitong River, which is naviga- 
ble up to the city. It lies on the only road 
to the northward by which the Japanese 
army could advance into Manchuria and 
Pekin. 

The walls of the city were strengthened 
by earthworks by the defenders. There 
were in it three Krupp field pieces and 
several Gatling guns, while the garrisons 
were equipped with Spencer or Mosler rifles 
and had plenty of ammunition. In front of 
the castle was a masked fort, which is 
described as being the best piece of military 
engineering ever accomplished by the Chi- 
nese. The Chinese considered the fortress 
to be absolutely impregnable. The popula- 
tion of the city is about 40,000, and it and 
its surrounding country were strongly in 
sympathy with China. It was, therefore, 
plain that the first Japanese movement must 
be to destroy the force there intrenched. 

Fighting Under Cover. 

The battle was begun Saturday, August 
1 6th, at daybreak, by a Japanese cannonade 
of the Chinese works, which was continued 
without cessation until afternoon, the Chinese 
responding. Early in the afternoon a body 
of infantry was sent forward by the Japanese 
and maintained a rifle fire upon the enemy 
until dusk. Throughout the day only the 
Pong-San column was engaged. The Chi- 
nese defence suffered greatly, but losses on 
either side were small, both the Chinese and 
Japanese having taken advantage of all the 
shelter available. 

The Japanese troops, however, gained 
some advanced positions. All other forts 
were captured by the Japanese on the first 
of the two days of fighting. Although 
repeated attempts were made to storm the 
gate of the castle the desperate courage 
displayed by the garrison rendered that futile. 



In the meantime two Japanese flanking 
columns, the one from Gen-San, the other 
from Wang-Hai, had formed a cordon 
around the Chinese. On the next day early 
in the morning an attack was made by the 
Japanese columns with admirable precision. 
The Chinese lines, which were so strong in 
front, were found to be weak in the rear, and 
here the attack was a complete success. 
The main body of the enemy was attacked 
in front and rear. 

Thrown Into a Panic. 

The Chinese were completely taken by 
surprise and were thrown into a panic. 
Hundreds were cut down and those who 
escaped death, finding themselves surroun- 
ded at every point, broke and fled. Some 
of Viceroy Li-Hung-Chang's European- 
drilled troops stood their ground and were 
cut down to a man. Half an hour after the 
attack the Chinese army was flying toward 
the Yalu River. 

At last the white flag was raised on the 
walls and the Chinese general promised to 
surrender at sunrise next day. General 
Nodzu, commander-in-chief of the army, 
consented, on this understanding, to a cessa- 
tion of hostilities. At evening the Chinese 
army made a sortie, but were driven back 
by the Japanese left flank, and at the same 
time a squadron of the Manchu cavalry, 
charged the Japanese right flank, but when 
at 200 yards the magazine rifles suddenly 
opened on them, they became utterly demor- 
alized and scattered off the field without 
killing a single foe. Inside the ramparts in 
many places it came to a matter of cold 
steel, and here the Japanese soldiers did 
terrible work with the bayonet. 

The weakest point of the Chinese army is 
the lack of harmony. There is no supreme 
commander in the Chinese army, for no one 



A JAPANESE ACCOUNT OF THE WAR. 



247 






could willingly take such a responsible posi- 
tion as commander-in-chief. The Chinese 
generals, Yeh, Tso, Neih and Wei, were all 
in equal command of corps and jealous of 
each other. It is told that General Yeh 
proposed to evacuate Ping-Yang and retire 
before the stubborn defense should be taken. 
Tso, a more conscientious commander, turned 
on him in a rage: 

" Retire, never ! Give me your brevet, and 
then go if you like ! " 

At this Yeh looked shame-faced. " Oh ! 
/ only said it to test your courage ; we all 
really know that Tso is a brave man." 

Fell on the Ramparts. 

And Tso proved so. Early in the battle 
he set an example of courage by mounting 
a rampart very much exposed to fire. He 
fell in battle. After his death no general 
had courage enough to stand his ground, 
and the forces fled. 

The victorious Japanese then entered the 
city, which was a heap of ruins. The streets 
were littered with the dead bodies of Chinese, 
Coreans, oxen and horses. The only living 
things remaining were a few dogs and pigs. 
The palace of the Governor was occupied 
as the headquarters of the Japanese army. 
Thus the Japanese brought the Ping- Yang 
campoign to a brilliant close. 

In this battle 192 Japanese were killed 
and 487 wounded, and the Chinese loss is 
estimated at about 2000 killed and wounded 
and 700 prisoners. The Chinese soldiers 
wore the blue uniforms. When Chinamen 
heard that the terrible Jap was coming, they 
immediately cut off their -hair and took the 
white clothing of the Coreans. The spoils 
captured by the Japanese in the battle con- 
sisted of thirty-four guns of modern artillery, 
several thousands of rifles, ammunition, innu- 
merable battle flags and much treasure. 



China sent five transports conveying sol- 
diers to re-enforce the Chinese army in Ping- 
Yang. These transports left Tau September 
14th. They were convoyed by the powerful 
Chinese Navy. At this time the Japanese 
squadron was searching for the Chinese fleet in 
the Yellow Sea. On September 14th the Jap- 
anese squadron steamed toward the mouth 
of the Yalu River, expecting to sight part oi 
the Chinese fleet, but failed to find a single 
Chinese war-ship. On September 16th, the 
Japanese ships moved toward the island of 
Kaiwo. The squadron consisted of twelve 
men-of-war, namely, the Yoshino, Takachiho, 
Akitsushima, Naniwa, Matsushima, Chiyoda, 
Ikutsushima, Hashidate, Hiyei, Fuso, Akagi 
and the transport Saikiyo Maru, the latter 
under the command of Admiral Kabayama, 
who was making a tour of inspection. 

Ships in Sight. 

Soon after passing Kaiyo Island, on the 
morning of September 17th, the watchers 
in the turrets signalled " smoke in the dis- 
tance!" and soon after eleven formidable 
ships of the enemy were seen on the horizon. 
The eager cry of " the enemy, the enemy!" 
went from mouth to mouth. It was now 
11.30, and orders were given from the flag- 
ship Matsushima for dinner to be served on 
all the ships, for men cannot fight with 
empty stomachs. 

The enemy was now in plain view and 
rapidly approaching. The Chinese fleet con- 
sisted of the Yang- Wei, Chao-Yang, Ching- 
Yuen, Lai- Yuen, Chen-Yuen, Ting-Yuen, 
King-Yuen, Chin-Yuen, Kuang-Ti, Tsi- 
Yuen, Kuang-Ting, Ping- Yuen and six tor- 
pedo boats. They were almost the whole 
strength of the Chinese Navy. They steamed 
out of the mouth of the river in battle forma- 
tion and at the distance of 4000 metres 
opened fire. The Japanese, fearing that 



248 



A JAPANESE ACCOUNT OF THE WAR. 



their fire would do little execution at such a 
distance, waited until within 3000 metres of 
the Chinese ships, and then brought their 
guns into play. 

The Japanese ships, possessing higher 
speed and maneuvring powers, circled about 
the enemy, coming in closer when engaging 
the smaller vessels, and increasing the radius 
when they came within the range of the 
heavy guns of the Chinese battle ships. 

The Japanese mariners showed great skill 
with the long range quick-firing guns. They 
maintained their line of battle, but the Chi- 
nese, after a short time, broke their formation. 

A Target for Shot. 

The action was extremely hot at times. 
The Lai-Yuen sank first, stern foremost, and 
her bows rising, stood for a minute and a 
half out of water. The Chih-Yuen was the 
next vessel to go down. She made a des- 
perate charge against the Japanese. She is 
said to have been struck 200 times, mostly 
by machine guns. The Yang- Wei was next 
disabled. The steering gear of the Haikio- 
Maru, the Japanese transport, on which boat 
was Admiral Kabayanca, the head of the 
Naval Command Bureau, was disabled by 
the explosion of one of the enemy's shells, 
and that vessel was obliged to drop out of 
the line. 

She was pursued by the Chinese, and was 
forced to pass between the powerful Ting- 
Yuen and Chen-Yuen, within a distance of 
eighty metres. The commanders of these 
vessels, thinking it was her intention to ram 
them, steered off, leaving the packet room 
to escape. The Chinese discharged two fish 
torpedoes at her, but they were aimed too 
low and passed beneath her, doing no 
damage. 

Shortly after the mishap to the Haikio- 
Maru, the flagship Matsushima's forward 



quick-firing gun was struck by a shell and 
many casualities resulted. The ship was so 
badly damaged as to necessitate her with- 
drawing from the line of battle, and Admiral 
Ito shifted his flag to the Haskidate. An- 
other Chinese shell exploded in the Hiyei, 
killing and wounding many persons, includ- 
ing the surgeons, and setting the ship on 
fire. She left the line of battle to extinguish 
the flames and transfer the wounded, after 
which she returned and again took part in 
the fight. 

Captain Sokamoto, of the Akagi, the 
smallest gunboat, was aloft watching for 
torpedoes and signalling to the other vessels 
of the fleet their location, especially that of 
the Chin-Yuen, when the mast was cut away 
by a shot from the enemy and he was killed, 
upon which a sailor of the Akagi jumped 
into the sea and rescued the dead body of 
the Captain. 

Trying to Escape. 

While the Japanese were fighting like 
lions the Chinese fled like sheep. The King- 
Yuen went down. The Yang-Wai got 
aground and was rammed and sunk by the 
Tsi-Yuen, which her cowardly captain was 
taking out of action. The Tshao-Yung 
caught fire and was beached. The Kuang- 
Ping went ashore north of Port Arthur, 
where here commander was fleeing from the 
scene of the action and was lost. The Chen- 
Yuen caught fire and she turned and steamed 
away. When she passed it was noticed by 
the Japanese that not a single member of her 
crew was in sight. 

At sundown the Chinese fleet was in full 
retreat. They were pursued by the Japanese 
ships. Owing to the extreme darkness the 
Chinese succeeded in getting away and 
reaching a safe shelter. The Chen-Yuen 
and the Ting-Yuen, the two largest ships in 



A JAPANESE ACCOUNT OF THE WAR. 



249 



the Chinese navy, were both greatly injured. 
When the Ting-Yuen arrived at Port Arthur 
she was three feet down by the head. The 
Chen-Yuen had 1 20 shot holes in her sides. 
All the Japanese ships fought splendidly 



throughout. The 



excel- 



lent. All signals were exchanged by flag 
and were promptly answered throughout the 
battle. None of the Japanese vessels were 
lost in the engagement and only three were 
injured. All of them, with the exception of 
the Matsushima, remained on the station. 

At daylight the Japanese vessels endeav- 
ored to find the enemy, but were unable to 
do so. They then returned to the scene of 
the previous day's action, where they found 
the Yang-Wei ashore and deserted, and 
destroyed her with a fish torpedo and quan- 
tities of wreckage. Thus ended Japan's 
glorious victory on the Yalu. Since the 
battle of the Yalu the Chinese warships 
which survived have never came out of for- 
tified harbors. 



The Japanese army had crossed the Yalu 
and entered Manchuria. It is now about 
time (November 25th), that the Japanese 
troops are in the sight of Moukden, the 
sacred home of the reigning Chinese dynasty. 

It is now reported that the Japanese have 
captured Port Arthur, which is the great 
naval stronghold of China and is known as 
the Gibraltar of Asia. The second Japanese 
army under Marshal Oyama is now moving 
toward Pekin. 

According to a despatch from Tokio the 
third Japanese corps has sailed from Mjina, 
Hiroshima. It is affirmed that the objective 
point of the corps is the Yan-tsu-King River, 
the heart of the Chinese Empire. Now we 
see Japan attacking China in three different 
directions. Soon China's humiliation will 
be completed and the civilizing mission of 
Japan will be done. When the banner of 
the rising sun is placed on the walls of Pekin 
it will signify the beginning of a better era for 
benighted China and darkened Asia. 



CHAPTER XVII. 
THE NEW JAPAN. 



A GRAPHIC account of what may 
be properly called the new Japan 
is furnished by the brilliant pen 
of one of the members of the 
Japanese Legation at Washington. This 
account is authorized and endorsed by the 
Japanese Minister to our Government, as 
will be seen from the following note: 

"The interest which the American public 
has taken in Japan is a source of profound 
satisfaction to my countrymen and to the 
government which I have the honor to rep- 
resent in the United States. It is with 
pleasure, therefore, that in response to 
inquiries, Mr. Stevens of our Legation staff, 
has sketched the characteristics, resources 
and aspirations of Japan. 

"Shinichiro Kurino." 

Mr. Stevens's account is as follows: 
I must confess to some temerity in pre- 
senting a sketch of Japan, wherein some- 
thing of erudition may be expected. But 
one thing, I trust, I may be able to impress 
upon the minds of American readers, and 
that is that the problems which Japan pre- 
sents are worthy of the study of the most 
learned, and that the events which have 
formed her national life during the past 
three decades will one day rank among the 
marvels of history. 

The Empire of Japan consists of a group, 
or, to speak more precisely, of several groups 
of islands lying off the east coast of the Con- 
tinent of Asia. These islands, irregular in 
shape, and even more irregularly distributed, 
250 



consist of a main group of four islands, and 
of several smaller groups scattered in differ- 
ent directions, with here and there solitary 
islands and islets posted like sentries about 
the Island Empire of the Orient. 

The main group consists of four islands. 
The northernmost is Hokkaido, once known 
as Yezo. Then comes the principal island, 
which, curiously enough, is really without a 
name, although it is sometimes called Hon- 
shin, and sometimes Niphon. This latter, 
with the prefix Dai, is the name of the 
whole Empire — "Great Japan" — but not 
distinctively of the central island. The 
explanation is that the Japanese looked 
upon that island as the mainland, which 
necessarily needed no other separate desig- 
nation than the name of the whole countiy. 
The southernmost island is Xiushiu, or 
"The Nine Provinces;" the one to the east 
and north of that, Sikoku, or "The Four 
Provinces." 

Beautiful Sea and Islands. 

Between Kiushiu and Sikoku, on the one 
side, and the mainland on the other, almost 
completely landlocked, lies that beautiful 
body of water known as the Inland Sea, 
itself studded with islands and islets. The 
islands scattered here and there in irregular 
array form naturally the most unique and 
attractive feature. How many there are of 
these islands no one seems to know exactly 
— the Japanese themselves say some thou- 
sands. 

Many of them are inhabited and in a state 



THE NEW JAPAN. 



251 



of high cultivation, while others, ranging in 
size from mere rocks to mountainous and 
precipitous cliffs, have upon them no human 
habitations. In many cases fantastically 
shaped and curiously marked, with those 
that are inhabited, where picturesque villages 
cluster upon the shores, and the terraced hill- 
sides are tinted with the varied hues and 
colors of the growing crops, they combine 
to form a scene of novel and impressive 
beauty. The sea itself, although occasion- 
ally disturbed by storms, possesses at most 
times all the charms of a quiet lake. It is 
as if the land had snatched away a part of 
the stormy ocean, roaring in surly discon- 
tent upon its outer coasts, and decking it 
with these gems, torn from its own bosom, 
had wrapped it in a soft embrace and lulled 
it into a gentle sleep. 

Land Well Cultivated. 

Owing to the mountainous nature of the 
country there are but few large plains in 
Japan. But wherever irrigation is possible, 
and rice and other crops can be grown, 
every foot of soil is cultivated. In central 
and northern Japan you may see many thou- 
sands of acres of land under cultivation, but 
on the fertile plains and uplands near the 
seacoast the same land has been in use for 
centuries, and still yields abundant crops 
under a system of diligent and skilful hus- 
bandry that apparently is capable of little, if 
any, improvement. The land is subdivided 
in the great majority of cases into very small 
holdings, and it seems wonderful, especially 
to Americans, whose ideas of land are very 
naturally comprehensive, to discover that a 
Japanese farmer can live and prosper upon 
a "farm" little larger than a good sized house 
lawn. 

Japan has a population of 41,089,940. The 
distribution of this population is very uneven. 



The main island has more than 31,000,000 
inhabitants, the Hokkaido less than 400,000. 
The same differences exist to almost as great 
a degree between the provinces of the main 
island itself. Those in the north and in the 
mountainous central region are very sparsely 
inhabited, while in the south, and wherever 
a plain or a valley affords an opportunity for 
the irrigation, every available foot of ground 
is utilized. Japan is not a densely populated 
country in the sense that it is overcrowded, 
or that its -resources are severely taxed to 
supply the needs of its inhabitants. 

Not Fond of Mutton. 

There are thousands of acres of fertile land 
lying fallow which will one day be cultivated, 
no doubt. The utilization of such lands 
depends to some extent upon the adoption 
of new methods of agriculture and the 
growth of new products, and somewhat 
upon the greater spread among Japanese 
of fondness for a meat diet. The govern- 
ment once made experiments in sheep farm- 
ing, with a view to utilizing the great tracts 
of pasture land now lying waste. The ex- 
periment was in one sense a failure, not 
because the sheep did not thrive sufficiently 
well, but simply because the Japanese peo- 
ple did not care to eat mutton. 

This condition of affairs is, however, 
changing. The raising of cattle and the 
cultivation of crops hitherto neglected are 
furnishing profitable use for waste lands, so 
that in time we may expect to find the popu- 
lation of Japan somewhat more evenly dis= 
tributed than it is at present. 

Cities, towns and villages are numerous 
in Japan, as is natural where the population 
crowds together in a favored district. For the 
purposes of this paper, however, it is suffi- 
cient to refer to only three of the larger 
cities — Tokio, Osaka and Kioto. 



252 



JAPAN AND 1 



These three cities are Fu — that is to say, 
they have local governments of their own, 
while the rest of the Empire is divided into 
Ken, or prefectures, the form and mode of 
government being in both cases substantially 
identical. 

Osaka is the ancient commercial metropolis 
of Japan, and serves as the centre of distribu- 
tion for one of the richest and most populous 
regions of the Empire. It is a quaint, old- 
fashioned city, wealthy and conservative, and 
solid and substantial type, and yet not with- 
out many signs of the growth and spread of 
modern ideas. Its citizens are like itself — 
solid and substantial, and not too eager to 
adopt the new simply for the sake of its 
novelty, but very persistent and persevering 
in carrying out any project that may meet 
with their approval. 

Ancient Seat of Learning. 

They are the merchant princes of Japan, 
and in all the changes incident to the pro- 
gress of the Empire within the past three 
decades they have retained for their city 
much of its ancient importance. The re- 
moval of the capital from Kioto to Tokio 
has deprived it of the political pre-eminence 
which it once enjoyed, but if business and 
politics have been divorced, the former has 
not suffered much by the process. 

Kioto, only an hour's ride from Osaka, 
presents an entirely different aspect. If 
Osaka is the home of commerce and of 
industry, Kioto — at least in the days of old 
Japan — was the chosen abode of the muses, 
of learning and of the arts. During the 
time when a temporal ruler, nominally de- 
pendent, but in reality master, held sway at 
Veddo, now Tokio; when the Shogunate 
had succeeded in usurping most of the real 
power, leaving only its shadow to the true 
sovereign, Kioto was the home of a vene- 



HE JAPANESE. 

rated but impoverished Court, the members 
of which, debarred from the excitements of 
political life, turned their attention, whether 
from choice or necessity, to the cultivation 
of gentler pursuits. Here literature and let- 
ters flourished, and here many of the manual 
arts, which have made japan famous, reached 
their highest stage of development. 

Tokio is an attractive city, but cannot 
compare with Kioto in natural beauty, nor 
with Osaka in commercial importance. It 
was selected as his capital by Iyeyas, the 
great founder of the family of Tokugawa 
Shoguns, about three hundred years ago. 
For centuries it was a military capital, an 
immense armed camp, within which, for at 
least six months during the year, each terri- 
torial noble was obliged to take up his resi- 
dence, accompanied by a goodly number of 
retainers. The presence of these large bodies 
of armed men gave the city a peculiar char- 
acter, some memory of which lingers about it 
still. 

A Flourishing Capital. 

At the time of the Restoration, when the 
Tokugawa dynasty passed away, the city fell 
into decadence, and for a time wore a forlorn 
and deserted appearance. Its population 
decreased nearly fifty fold, and it seemed 
destined to pass into forgetfulness with the 
fortunes of its rulers. But when the Em- 
peror chose it as his capital its ancient im- 
portance was revived, although in a very 
different form, and since then it has steadily 
gained both in population and in wealth. 

Among the material products of Japan 
the agricultural naturally take the lead. The 
country is rich in minerals, and manufac- 
tures have increased in importance wonder- 
fully within the past few years, but agricul- 
ture still retains its ancient pre-eminence. 

Rice is the most important product. In 



THE NEW JAPAN. 



253 



older times it was a unit of value, the in- 
comes of nobles and others being calculated 
by the "koku" of rice, the koku being 133 
pounds. As rice farmers the Japanese have 
nothing to learn from their Western brethren. 
Their implements may seem primitive and 
their mode of cultivation awkward, but the 
results they achieve are of the best. 

They use the same land year after year, 
without intermission, and their children's 
children continue to use it after them. It 
never lies fallow, but in many cases, perhaps 
in the majority, is used for another crop as 
soon as the rice has been harvested, and 
always yields abundantly. Experience has 
taught the Japanese the secret of maintain- 
ing this uninterrupted cultivation, and, as to 
their methods of planting and harvesting, I 
give it, not as my own but as the opinion of 
e tperts who have carefully examined into 
the subject, that labor-saving machinery 
could not be introduced with profit for the 
improvement of either process. 

An Important Industry. 

The silk industry of Japan has received a 
"wonderful impetus within the past few years, 
and the export of raw silk has grown mar- 
vellously. Each year the acreage devoted 
to the mulberry tree has been enlarged, and 
the number of those who occupy the whole 
or a part of their time in raising silk worms 
has been increased. This is an industry for 
which his patient and methodical habits 
especially fit the Japanese agriculturist. It 
is also an occupation in which the women 
and children of his family can engage with 
profit and without exhausting toil. 

It has always been an important industry, 
but of late years it has spread to districts 
where it was not before known, wherever, in 
fact, the mulberry tree can be grown, until 
to-day there is hardly a hamlet or a solitary 



farm house in Central Japan where it is not 
carried on to a constantly increasing extent. 
In porcelain clay the Japanese have a pro- 
duct which they have for centuries put to 
artistic uses with which the world is familiar. 
If signs of decadence have at anytime ap- 
peared in the excellence of these products 
effective steps have been taken to prevent its 
spread. 

Masterpieces of Bronze. 

The same may be said of the lacquers and 
bronzes for which Japan is so renowned. In 
the old days a fine piece of bronze or of 
lacquer was a work of loving and thoughtful 
care, in which no element of personal gain 
entered — other than the hope of fame. The 
workmen — if they can be called workmen 
who were in the truest sense artists — were in 
most cases under the patronage of some rich 
man or noble, for whom they wrought slowly 
and carefully those masterpieces which have 
gained such fame for them and for their 
country. Such work as that is hardly to be 
expected in the hurry and bustle of a com- 
mercial age, but the art is not lost, and the 
artists of Japan still produce masterpieces in 
lacquer and bronze. 

But no account of Japan would be even 
partially adequate which did not contain some 
mention of the uses to which these resources 
have been put during Japan's transition from 
the old to the new order of things. The 
manner in which a nation manages its ma- 
terial resources may be taken as a fair index 
of the stage of development to which it has 
attained, and of its capacity for progress in 
other directions. 

The restoration of 1868 found Japan, in 
a disordered and impoverished condition. 
Japan had been closed to the world for cen- 
turies, but no people can be shut out com- 
pletely from knowledge of the rest of mankind 



254 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



or from contact with the ideas of a progressive 
age. Strangely enough, the death blow to 
the ancient system was that event of which 
Americans are so justly proud, the conclu- 
sion of the Perry treaty. 

It was this dawn of daylight from the 
outer world which showed intelligent Japan- 
ese how thoroughly out of touch their 
couutry and, above all, their form of govern- 
ment was with the spirit of the age. It was 
then that the little band of reformers, who 
were chiefly instrumental in bringing about 
the great change, began their work. 

One of the first acts of the Emperor was 
to issue an edict abolishing the laws against 
foreign religions and their propagation among 
the Japanese. 

New System of Government. 

The daimios, or feudal chiefs, surrendered 
their fiefs to the crown, and accepted in lieu 
the bonds of the government, at amounts, it 
should be added, much less than the value 
of their original holdings. This, it must not 
be forgotten, was an entirely voluntary act 
of self abnegation. 

The samurai, or military class, whose 
privileges, rigorously secured and jealously 
guarded, made them the real masters of 
Japan, especially in times of domestic dis- 
order, like their chiefs, the daimios, accepted 
capitalized pensions, instead of the regular 
support to which their fealty and their service 
had entitled them. 

The reorganization of the whole fabric of 
the public administration was naturally the 
first care of the Imperial Government. The 
departments were all established upon a new 
and an effective basis. Foreign advisers 
were employed to sssist in the work, and no 
effort or expense was spared to create a 
system which would be at once modern, 
practical and economical. 



The government recognized the import- 
ance of education to themselves and to the 
masses. A complete system of educational 
institutions was established in every part of 
the Empire, beginning with primary schools 
in every hamlet, through middle, normal and 
other more advanced institutions up to the 
University in Tokio. Hospitals were en- 
dowed, and special attention was paid to 
education in medicine and surgery. 

Schools for Women. 

Nor was any distinction made between the 
sexes, but schools were established for the 
education of women as well as of men. 
This system has been steadily followed 
throughout, with only those changes which 
experience has shown to be advisable and 
beneficial. In all public works the govern- 
ment has taken an active and an earnest 
interest. The establishment of railway and 
steamship lines, of telegraph and post roads, 
and, in short, of all those facilities which 
increase the comfort and convenience of the 
nation have been their constant care. The 
telegraph and postal systems are equal to 
those of most countries, while as to railways, 
an increase from eighteen miles, in 1873, to 
almost two thousand miles, in 1894, may 
fairly be regarded as a good result even in 
this country of phenomenal railway develop- 
ment. 

Nor should it be forgotten that a great 
deal of the progress which Japan has made 
in every direction has been due as much to 
private enterprise as to government direction. 
The railway and steamship lines, for ex- 
ample, are exclusively under the control of 
private corporations. The government has, 
of necessity, taken the initiative in many 
things, but oftentimes it has been merely to 
set an example which has been readily and 
aptly followed. 



THE NEW JAPAN. 



256 



There is another phase of Japanese de- 
velopment which is well worthy of notice. 
I refer now to tlie newspaper press. The 
Japanese, like the ancient Athenians, and — 
may I add? — like modern Americans, are a 
people who delight in hearing new things. 
It need hardly be added that the press came 
to them, as it comes so often to us, to supply 
" a long felt want." Its development has 
been little short of marvellous, and now it 
flourishes like the green bay tree, from the 
scholarly periodical, the didactic weekly, the 
political daily, down to the "penny dreadful," 
for whose columns nothing short of murder 
and sudden death are fit matter. 

Influence of the Press. 

Many able, intelligent and patriotic men 
are enlisted in the ranks of the press in Japan, 
and they already exercise a potent influence 
upon public opinion and the conduct of 
public affairs. The government has deemed 
it necessary to establish regulations for the 
control of the press — a system more alien to 
American than to European ideas — but one 
which experience has shown is necessary to 
the public welfare. The heaviest penalty of 
all, the total suspension and confiscation of 
the paper, has never been inflicted. 

In attempting to describe the changes 
through which Japan has passed and the 
effect which they have had upon the develop- 
ment of the country's resources and the 
increase of national wealth, it has not been 
possible to omit some mention of the political 
transformation which has been so notable a 
feature of her recent history. The one 
stands to the other in the relation of cause 
to effect, and what the future may have in 
store for Japan depends not a little upon the 
harmonious development of the govern- 
mental system which was adopted when the 
Empire emerged from its seclusion. 



The present executive system was adopted 
in 1885. It consists of a Cabinet and a 
Privy Council. The former, presided over 
by the Prime Minister, is composed of the 
Ministers in charge of the executive depart- 
ments, who are directly responsible to the 
Emperor for the management of their offices. 
The functions of the Privy Council are purely 
advisory. 

The different Prefectures into which the 
Empire is divided are under the charge of 
Governors appointed by the Emperor upon 
the recommendation of the Minister of Home 
Affairs. In each Prefecture there is, as I 
have already stated, a local Assembly which 
co-operates with the Governor in the manage- 
ment of local affairs. 

The Governing Houses. 

The Imperial Diet is composed of two 
Houses, a House of Peers and a House of 
Representatives. The former body consists 
of members who hold office as a hereditary 
right, of a certain number who are elected 
by the different orders of nobility which are 
not entitled to seats in the House, and of a 
certain number appointed by the Emperor. 

The members of the House of Represen- 
tatives are elected directly by the people. 
A property qualification governs the exercise 
of the electoral franchise. 

This, in brief, is the executive and legisla- 
tive system now in force in Japan. When 
everything is taken into account it may be 
said to have worked smoothly and efficiently. 
Since the adoption of the constitution and 
the establishment of the Diet there has at 
times been a great deal of political excite- 
ment, but throughout every storm of this 
kind there has been no attack upon the 
privileges of the people, no thought of an 
assault upon the fundamental law. The 
constitution has been scrupulously observed, 



2f>6 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 



and each struggle between the executive and 
the legislative branches of the government 
has been carried on within the lines defined 
by that instrument. 

Such contests are inevitable where men 
strive for political supremacy. In Japan 
they afford a useful vent for political pas- 
sions, and when, in time, party principles 
are more clearly enunciated and party lines 
more sharply drawn, there is no reason to 
believe that parliamentary government in 
Japan will not achieve all that was hoped 
for it. The fact that in Japan, even from 
ancient times, a system of local self-govern- 
ment in town and village, and rural district, 
was conceded by the government and jeal- 
ously retained by the people, affords perhaps 
the brightest augury for the success of self- 
government in Japan. 

Competitive Examinations. 

The systematization and codification of 
the laws of Japan was one of the first cares 
of the government after the restoration. In 
the year 1884 a system of competitive exami- 
nation for appointment to judgeships was 
introduced and has ever since been in suc- 
cessful operation. 

The constitution itself provides that juris- 
diction shall be exercised by the courts of 
law according to law ; that the organization 
of the courts shall be determined by law ; 
that the judges shall be appointed from 
among those who possess the proper quali- 
fications according to law, and that no judge 
shall be deprived of his office except for 
misconduct and by due process of law. A 
statute passed for carrying these constitu- 
tional guarantees into effect, and providing 
for comprehensive and complete reorganiza- 






has been in 



tion of the courts of justice, 
operation for several years. 

If we judge the future of Japan by the 
past — by what she has accomplished for the 
intellectual, the moral and the material im- 
provement of her people — our forecast must 
be most sanguine. Admitting that accom- 
plishment is justly a measure of reward, she 
cannot now be far from the goal of her 
ambition — recognition as a member of the 
family of nations fully entitled to the enjoy- 
ment of all those rights and privileges which 
independent commonwealths regard as in- 
alienable prerogatives of national sover- 
eignity. 

America in the East. 

Her continued prosperity and successful 
progress depend upon the attainment of this 
end, for she has reached the point where the 
harmonious development of her national life 
demands another and an even greater change 
than any that has gone before. The only 
obstacle which stands in the way is senti- 
mental rather than practical. Some believe 
because no Asiatic nation has ever, at least 
in modern times, cared for those things and 
striven for those things for which Japan cares 
and which she seeks to make her own, that 
therefore no Asiatic nation is fitted to enjoy 
them. Such reasoning is as faulty as its 
premises are incorrect. 

When, in the not distant future, Japan 
attains the goal of her ambition, it must 
always be a gratifying reflection to every 
American that it was his country which firsi 
brought her into touch with the world, and 
which first displayed a cordial, a helpful and 
a practical sympathy with the aspirations 
and efforts of the Land of the Rising Sun. 



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